Across the Street from Cheverus…
Portland’s Ante-Bellum Brady Bunch

By Gwen Thompson

The cozy double front parlors complete with working fireplaces, hardwood floors, six- over-six windows, Federal woodwork, and Greek Revival moldings on the first floor of the two story white clapboard house opposite Cheverus High School on Ocean Avenue seem perfectly suited to sedate grownup activities like crosswords and cocktails; while the slant-ceilinged, loft-like nooks and crannies connecting to a walk-in attic at the back of the upstairs strike one immediately as an ideal setting for kids to engage in more strenuous pur- suits such as hide-and-seek. This duality of purpose no doubt came in handy between 1812 and 1838, when the John Brown Russwurm House – built c. 1810 and now a Greater Portland Landmark listed on the National Register-may have been home to as many as 14 children of parentage as oddly mixed and unlikely as anything you’d encounter on a modem TV sitcom.

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