The Marlborough Apartments

180-188 High Street

The grand Marlborough Apartments building standing opposite the public parking garage and the Westin Harborview Hotel (previously the Eastland Hotel) on High Street was originally designed as an apartment block in 1914 for property developer and Jewish community leader Bernard Shalit. The Marlborough—now condos—is still considered one of Portland’s premier historic residences and was recognized in 2002 by Greater Portland Landmarks as a historic property. On November 17, 1926, an ornate funeral procession—said to be one of the city’s largest and most elaborate in years—proceeded from the Marlborough Apartments, down High Street and over the bridge to the Smith St. Cemetery (Stop C03). The procession was for Hiram Abrams, who had died two days earlier of a heart attack in New York City at the age of 48. Shiva (the Jewish mourning ritual) was held in Unit 21, his sister Jennie Goodside’s apartment; another sister and Bernard’s widow, Annie Shalit, lived in the Marlborough Apartments—and owned the building. After Abrams’ first funeral service at the West End Synagogue in Manhattan, his wife, daughter and several Hollywood celebrities traveled up to Portland in a special train car, along with a whole car full of flowers. Among the enormous number of bouquets and tributes sent to honor him was a 12-foot-high bouquet from none other than actor and filmmaker Charlie Chaplin, to “my dearest friend”. Just who was this Hiram Abrams?

Born in 1878 in Portland, Abrams grew up in his family home at 61-65 Middle Street and attended Portland public schools, then became a traveling salesman. By 1909, he was operating cinemas in Portland and around New England. From here he kicked off a meteoric rise in the emerging film industry. By 1914, Abrams was on the board of Paramount Pictures—then the largest film distribution company in the country—and soon, president (thanks to his participation in a company takeover). His tenure at Paramount didn’t last long, though; in 1917, Abrams fell prey to an extortion scheme involving hotels and prostitutes in Boston and was fired from Paramount. In response, he and his business partner, Ben Schulberg, partnered with actors Charlie Chaplin, D.W. Griffith, Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbank to launch a new film production and distribution company in 1919 called United Artists. Its mission was to allow actors to control their own financial and artistic interests, and Abrams was the first managing director. United Artists (now owned by Amazon MGM Studios) became a major player in the film industry, representing major movie stars and releasing two of the top ten grossing films of the 1920s: Griffith’s Way Down East (1921) and Chaplin’s The Gold Rush (1925). Abrams had become a celebrity; he was a friend to public figures in New York, Boston, and Portland, and to the greatest film stars of the day.

Portland was proud of its hometown movie mogul hero: between 1910 and 1930, local newspapers wrote more than 250 articles about Hiram Abrams. And he, in turn, was proud of Portland, staying close to his family and visiting frequently. In 1917, Abrams—a lifelong baseball fan—purchased the Portland baseball franchise of the Eastern League (and named it the Portland Paramounts) so that the city would retain a baseball team. Ironically, the summer before Hiram died, he bought a 100-acre estate outside Poland Springs in Maine and planned to retire there within two years.

Hiram was a national celebrity, but when he died, he came home. He was buried alongside his parents and ultimately most of his siblings and in-laws. The love of his sisters at the Marlborough, and their sentiments about his career, were amply conveyed with a simple statement on his gravestone: “Honored and beloved by all in life/His memory is revered/At rest from strife.”

As far as the original owner of the Marlborough Apartments goes, when it was built in 1914, the Marlborough represented a substantial investment by Bernard Shalit, a Jewish immigrant from Poland who spent more than three decades in Portland. Shalit’s property development was supported by his earlier business, Shalit Bros. clothing, which moved between several addresses on Congress Street. Shalit was one of the early pioneers of modern-day marketing, offering clothing on a credit system, as well as hosting an annual clearance sale and consistently advertising in local newspapers like the Evening Express and Portland Sunday Telegraph. Sadly, Shalit died in Portland in 1915, just a year after the building was completed. The Marlborough (as well as the adjacent multi-family properties) was managed for decades after by Annie Shalit, and then her sons, who kept rents reasonable as they owned the building and did not have a mortgage. The result was a stable long-term tenant base.