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Captain Robert S. Craig Cottage
Inventory No.:
WO-590
Other Name(s):
Bay Breeze
Date Listed:
12/26/2017
Location:
706 St. Louis Avenue, Ocean City, Worcester County
Category:
Structure
Period/Date of Construction:
1949-1964
Architect/Builder:
Craig, R. S., designer 1949; Builder Unknown
Craig R. M., designer 1964; General Contractors, Builder
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Description:
The Captain Robert S. Craig Cottage (Bay Breeze Cottage) is a well preserved 1 ½-story gable-front house constructed in 1949-50 of concrete block with concrete, brick-edged, porch floors and four 4x4 unadorned posts supporting the full-width front porch’s shallow hipped roof. An open X-cross balustrade edges the porch roof. The west gable façade comprises a central entrance door flanked on its left by a single 6/6 sash window and by paired 6/6 sash on the right. A smaller 6/6 sash appears in the gable peak. The two western bays of the south elevation are defined by paired 6/6 sash, with another similar window in the shed dormer above (added in the late 1950s). A brick exterior chimney—intended to serve a heat and cook stove that was never installed—rises on the south elevation. Decorative green batten-style shutters (reinstating the style originally installed on the cottage) flank the windows, whose red brick sills contrast against the otherwise white-painted house exterior. Two planters were built fronting the porch. The gable roof is surfaced in green asphalt shingles. The interior of Bay Breeze comprises a large living room/dining room, three bedrooms, one bath, and a knotty pine kitchen (popular in Ocean City at the time). Original pine floors have been restored throughout, and the original knotty pine kitchen cabinets and paneling are extant; the Formica countertops have been replaced in kind with matching materials and style in 2016. Intended for summer use only, the cottage was never heated. In the rear bedroom, a ladder accesses a dormitory-style attic bedroom where the family slept, as Mrs. Virginia Craig rented the downstairs bedrooms to summer tourists and, from the 1960s on, to members of the Ocean City Beach Patrol. Original early construction board (pre-sheetrock) is retained throughout the dormitory space and down stairs on the back porch. Circa 1960, paneling was added to the three downstairs bedrooms and an outside staircase and exterior rear upper-level deck and door were added to access the attic dormitory bedroom, independent of the downstairs rear bedroom ladder (the house never had an interior staircase). About 1964 a two-bedroom rental apartment (designed by Captain Craig’s son, Robert M. Craig) was attached to the rear of the house. The so-called “Captain’s Kid” apartment has a galley kitchen, full bath, and living room all under a flat roof. At the same time, a small patio was constructed connecting the cottage’s back porch and the stoop entry porch of the apartment. Also in the same campaign, a tool shed from a property at 13th and Philadelphia Ave. in Ocean City was moved five blocks onto the property and converted into a one-room efficiency rental apartment. The frame toolshed/efficiency apartment is sited at the rear of the lot.
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Significance:
Bay Breeze is historically significant for its association with Captain Robert S. Craig, whose role in the development and leadership of the Ocean City Beach Patrol (OCBP), the town’s ocean lifeguard organization, spanned over 50 years and contributed to the growth of the town as a beach resort. Throughout three decades of the OCBP’s history, the cottage served as its informal headquarters, where meetings were held, records were kept, and summer lifeguards found sleeping accommodations. During Captain Craig’s leadership, the OCBP became nationally known for its management and ocean rescue work. Captain Craig initiated the use of semaphore communications among beach lifeguards, and incorporated innovative rescue technology in the OCBP’s operations. When the town completed its Beach Patrol headquarters in 2015, the administrative third floor was named for Captain Craig, six years after his death. Bay Breeze was designed by Captain Robert S. Craig and constructed in 1949-50; the attached “Captain’s Kid” apartment was designed by his son Robert M. Craig and built circa 1964; and a frame tool shed was moved to the property and remodeled as an efficiency apartment at the same time. Bay Breeze was restored in 2012-16 under the supervision of architectural historian Robert M. Craig. The property has served as a family retreat continuously over six decades. The period of significance, 1949-1964, corresponds to the period during which the resource substantially achieved its historic form and appearance.
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