{"id":16680,"date":"2019-09-26T16:54:00","date_gmt":"2019-09-26T20:54:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/?p=16680"},"modified":"2020-09-29T10:14:12","modified_gmt":"2020-09-29T14:14:12","slug":"the-narrows","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/the-narrows\/","title":{"rendered":"The Narrows"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"border: none; width: 100%; height: 450px;\" src=\"\/\/e.issuu.com\/embed.html?backgroundColor=%23fefefe&amp;d=oct19_flipbook&amp;hideIssuuLogo=true&amp;pageNumber=76&amp;showOtherPublicationsAsSuggestions=true&amp;u=portlandmagazine\" width=\"300\" height=\"150\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h1 class=\"p1\"><\/h1>\n<p class=\"p1\">October 2019<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><em><span class=\"s1\">By Colin\u00a0W. Sargent<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-16762\" src=\"http:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/oct19HOM-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"oct19HOM\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/oct19HOM-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/oct19HOM-200x150.jpg 200w, https:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/oct19HOM-467x350.jpg 467w, https:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/oct19HOM.jpg 600w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/>W<\/span><span class=\"s1\">e\u2019re on a Boston Whaler on the Saco River when we see it. A for-sale sign reflects in the crisp blue water as the river rushes toward Biddeford Pool. Above the sign, on a scenic hill, a late 1980s estate crowned by a gambrel-roof style house presides over an entire mini peninsula as it reaches into the water. Front and center, the boathouse\/artist\u2019s &amp; writer\u2019s studio\/cocktail lounge literally hangs over the water on I-beams. More boats slow down to look at the architectural marvel with the for-sale sign in front. Who could ever give this up? Is it a she-shed? A man cave?<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p3\"><span class=\"s1\">\u201cEverybody lays claim to it!\u201d says Barbara Boutet, owner. \u201cThis studio is the first place everyone wants to see. My husband and I built it when we built the house and added the swimming pool. You could never build an in-ground pool so close to the river today.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p3\"><span class=\"s1\">The river studio has exposed beams and a pickled interior. From here, a new owner will enjoy bold views of 355 feet of river frontage and \u201cstunning sunsets. When all the windows are open, the wind blows right through here. It\u2019s heaven.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p3\"><span class=\"s1\">Can stunning and homely occupy the same space? It does here. This house captures the imagination as a restoration project because of the incomparable lot and building site, and yet many choices, like \u201cthe Mexican clay tiles I bought and put in here 40 years ago,\u201d deserve to stay.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p3\"><span class=\"s1\">The rooms are graciously proportioned\u2013upstairs there are two large bedrooms with baths and a sitting room between, all facing the water.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p3\"><span class=\"s1\">Boutet loves and understands this river as though it\u2019s a dear relative. \u201cAcross the river, do you see those pilings? That\u2019s where the original ferry landed,\u201d she says.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p5\"><span class=\"s1\">I<\/span><span class=\"s1\">n the 1980s, this house was very much a part of Maine\u2019s cultural map. Barbara and her husband [who passed away in 2015] hosted many Democratic fundraisers here. \u201cSchooner Fare played right in the living room when we hosted Joe Brennan,\u201d she says. As she speaks, she looks beyond the tall, tall oak trees and a white pine to the river, as if it\u2019s listening. A 21-foot Pro-Line boat motors by and slows along the river. The people inside draw closer and point. They\u2019re bewitched by the studio.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p3\"><span class=\"s1\">We ask Boutet if her house has a nickname. She closes her eyes and lets the question tie up at the dock. You can tell she\u2019s speaking for two. \u201cIf I had to give it a name, I guess I\u2019d call it The Narrows.\u201d <em>Taxes for 551 Ferry Road, Saco, are $19,060.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;The Narrows&#8221;\u2014perfect boathouse and great family home in Saco.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":16763,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[892,232,224],"tags":[26,127,372,208,443,442],"class_list":["post-16680","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-real-estate","category-shelter-design","category-talking-walls","tag-house-of-the-month","tag-maine","tag-maine-homes","tag-real-estate","tag-saco","tag-saco-river"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16680","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16680"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16680\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19320,"href":"https:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16680\/revisions\/19320"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16763"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16680"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16680"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16680"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}