TidesNet—Online Collections Entry Detail

DescriptionA late 19th century full size victorian style child’s playhouse owned by the Tides Institute & Museum of Art. It is one of eight historic buildings owned by the Tides Institute that date from 1819 to the 1890s and that help preserve and illustrate the architectural legacy of this region. The playhouse was originally built for a then mayor, Edward S. Waide, of Eastport, Maine as a gift to his daughter, Dorothy Waide, who was born in 1894. She spent much of her later life living in her parents home until she died in 1974. The playhouse is approximately 12 feet high, nine feet long and six feet wide. For many years the playhouse stood on the lawn surrounding the mayor’s large historic home in the center of Eastport. In the early 1940s, the playhouse was removed to be next to a house at the outskirts of Eastport. The playhouse was gifted to the Tides Institute in 2017 by Sheila and Ronald Sullivan and family. Sheila grew up and lived at the house on the grounds where the playhouse had been moved to in early 1940s by her father. She played in the house as a young child as did her children and grandchildren. Her husband Ronald’s grandfather built the playhouse in the late nineteenth century for the then mayor of Eastport with help from his son, Ronald’s father. The Tides Institute is now restoring the playhouse and had the interior and exterior of the house repainted this past summer. Missing pieces of exterior decorative woodwork trim still need to be replicated and the roof still needs to be reshingled with wood shingles. The Tides Institute is in the process of determining an appropriate long term location for the playhouse where, it is hoped, the playhouse can once again, on occasion at least, be used by children.