Luxury Condominium For Sale Within this Stately Home at 6 Eastern Promenade

By Carol McCracken

The stately home located at 6 Eastern Promenade was built in 1900 according to city records.   And for the years from 1903 to 1915, there is interesting information about the family who occupied the home.  Back in 1996, it was extensively restored by Crandall Toothaker.   And now one of those 4 units is for sale again.

In 1903, Ernest A. Randall, nicknamed “Di,” moved into the home at 6 Eastern Promenade.  He was 27 years old at the time.  From the building’s widow walk, now long gone, he was able to observe his family’s fleet of square riggers loaded down with coal as they maneuvered into the Randall & McCallister coal wharves located on Commercial Street.

“King of Coal of New England” was the title given to Di’s father, John Freeman Randall.  He’s credited with building the insignificant coal business into a major industry in New England.  John owned a fleet of square riggers built for him to transport coal up the coast to Portland from which he sold large quantities to the Maine Central Railroad, the Grand Trunk Railroad and the Portland Company, of which he was a director.  Large quantities of coal were also sold in interior Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont via the railroad. 

John, his wife, and eight children lived in another mansion on   the Eastern Promenade, on the current site of the Portland House.  In fact, whenever any of his eight children married,  John built a home for the couple close to the site of the Portland House.  Consequently, at one time there was a cluster of Randall homes on the Prom.  John died in 1894 leaving a vast fortune to his heirs.

Di and an older brother, Clifford, neighbors on the Hill, also built summer cottages on adjoining waterfront property on Route 88 at Falmouth Foreside.  Di died at the estate there in 1955 and his wife died there two years later.  The estate was subsequently sold and some of the land subdivided.

An older sister of Di’s, Mabel, married Henry Merrill, a principal of Randall & McAllister, making Ernest and Henry brothers-in-law.  Mabel and Henry Merrill lived at 5 Eastern Promenade.  That’s the dark shingled home that John Calvin Stevens  built in 1898 for Henry Merrill.

At some point, Randall & McAllister was converted from a coal company to an oil company.  Having seen more prosperous days when it sold coal, the business was sold to Webber Oil Company in 1975.

Now there is a chance for some lucky  person to buy a part of this grand home.  According to Tish Whipple, broker for the home, the unit comprises part of the second and third floor.  There are high ceilings, columns, rooftop deck and a fireplace in the kitchen. There is also a “seasonal” view of the waterfront.  Please call Tish, Town & Shore, at 773-0262 to found out about the rest of the anemities in this luxurious condominium unit.