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Time and Temperature Building
Time and Temperature Building
	The building viewed from Center Street
	Time and Temperature Building Location within Maine
Former names	Chapman Building
General information
Type	High-rise building
Architectural style	Neoclassical
Location	Portland, Maine, United States
Address	477 Congress Street
Coordinates	43°39′26″N 70°15′36″W / 43.6571°N 70.2599°W
Completed	1924 (101 years ago)
Renovated	1996
Owner	TT Maine Venture LLC
Height	184 ft (56 m)
Technical details
Floor count	14
Lifts/elevators	3
Design and construction
Architect(s)	Herbert W. Rhodes
References

The Time and Temperature Building, originally known as the Chapman Building, and officially 477 Congress Street, is a 14-story office building on Congress Street in downtown Portland, Maine. The building, which replaced Preble House (a successor to the mansion of Commodore Edward Preble),^[3] is named after a large three-sided four-element eggcrate display screen on the roof that flashes the local time and temperature. It was built in 1924 as a 12-story building, with Maine's first indoor shopping center on its ground floor.^[4]^[5] It sits across Preble Street from the 10-story Fidelity Trust Building.^[5] Until the 1970s, these buildings were Portland's only skyscrapers.^[6]

The building, one of Portland's tallest, is visible from miles away, including from Peaks Island across the harbor, and it has become a landmark to Portlanders who depend on it for the sign's time and temperature, but also mariners sailing into Portland harbor.

Time and temperature sign

The time-and-temperature sign was added to the building in 1964.^[7] In the 1970s, the Portland Savings Bank ran a summertime competition to guess when the sign would first register a temperature of 90 °F (32 °C).^[7]

Maine law prohibits flashing messages on signs visible from state highways, but in 1991, the Maine Legislature passed a grandfather clause exemption to allow the Time and Temperature building to use advertising to cover operating costs.^[8] A new sign was installed in 1999, which as well as the time and temperature, broadcasts messages consisting of two lines, each with four characters.^[8] Advertising messages have included "WMTW NEWS", from television station WMTW-TV, whose studios were located in the building from 1999 until 2015,^[9] and "CALL JOE", from advertising lawyer Joe Bornstein.^[8] When a snowstorm is severe enough to result in a snow emergency, the sign flashes the words "PARK BAN", to remind people not to park on the street.^[8]

In 2010, when a malfunction resulted in the sign going dark, around 60 concerned people contacted the building's owners to let them know.^[8]

History

Entrance to the Time and Temperature Building.

The Chapman Building was designed by local architect Herbert W. Rhodes, who also designed the nearby hotel The Eastland.^[10] In 1964, Casco Bank, the owner of the building, added two stories, and installed a flashing time-and-temperature sign on the roof.^[7] The addition was incongruent with the original style of the building, but a major renovation in the 1980s more naturally integrated it into the lower floors.^{[citation needed]}

In 1995, millionaire philanthropist Elizabeth Noyce's Libra Foundation purchased the building.^[11]^[7] Renovations were completed in 1996,^[1] and a new time-and-temperature sign was installed on the roof in 1999.^[8] In 2003, the Libra Foundation sold the building to 477 Congress LLC, a subsidiary of Kalmon Dolgin Affiliates.^[7]^[5] By 2016, occupancy dropped to 60%, as lack of maintenance had caused tenants to vacate the building.^[7] The building was taken into foreclosure by Wells Fargo on May 11, 2016.^[7] Building ownership passed to CW Capital Asset Management, a loan servicing company. An inspection in November 2017 by the Portland Fire Department found 19 fire-safety violations.^[12] The building was sold at auction for $9.3 million in October 2018 to TT Maine Venture.^[4]