W i n t e r g u i d e 2 0 1 8 9 9 House of the Month from top: meaghan maurice; courtesy berkshire hathaway Little Red Riding Cape Portland’s oldest dwelling could be yours, for $264,999. By Colin W. Sargent A sk any Portlander what the old- est house in our city is. She’ll likely answer, “the Tate House.” So much for common knowledge. Built in 1743, two doors north of the Tate House, the David Patrick House, 1288 Westbrook Street, is the more likely title holder, though the nearby Joseph Small House at 1161 Westbrook Street was also built in 1743. (A photo finish!) So which one is this gem? It’s the red cape on grounds that could be in a Mon- et masterpiece: a reflective river, lily pads, a charming bridge, and a resident flock of geese. And twelve years older than the Tate House. This landmark is named for “a me- chanic, also a brick maker and a brick ma- son” who settled here, according to a Port- land Evening Express article. (Remember when we had evenings, and an express to pair with them?) In addition to building the massive chimney for the Tate House, Patrick also worked as a lumber survey- or on the mast trade to outfit the King’s ships. According to This Was Stroudwater by Myrtle Kittridge Lovejoy, edited by Wil- liam David Barry, Patrick also dabbled as a ‘hog reeve’–a constable tasked with pre- venting and recording damage from stray swine by impounding them. Because the property slopes toward the river, Patrick’s resolute cape is more spa- cious than it seems from its charming fa- çade, which shows off its classic central chimney design. Under the cape’s eaves, “there used to be port holes protected with shutters, supposed to have been arranged for protection in case of an Indian attack,” according to the Evening Express. A Moving Experience In 1988, the Press Herald treated its readers to coverage of the moving of this “23-ton” house “fifty feet back from the street onto a new [brick] foundation,” away from Con- gress Street, a bit higher, and closer to the water. It was all part of the “$1 million proj- ect to widen the old Stroudwater Bridge. John Rich, foreman for Woodward Thom- sen Co., supervised the house-moving job.” The house was owned by C. Hasty Thomp- son (1918-1996), the Press Herald columnist and assistant city editor for the Maine Sun- day Telegram.