Sproul's Cafe sits at 128 Main Street in Bar Harbor's busy downtown, directly in front of you. The 2-1/2-story Second Empire building was built in 1880 and still reads like a survivor of the town's summer heyday. Imagine the place as it was when it served, until 1903, as a nationally recognized gathering spot for Bar Harbor's summer residents.
Sproul's Cafe was opened at a different location in 1870 and operated by Mr. and Mrs. Robert Sproul. Look up at the Mansard roof: the steep part is now clapboarded, and the half-story beneath carries three gable-roofed dormers with sash windows. The clapboard siding sits on a solid granite foundation.
At street level the west-facing façade invites you with a recessed center entrance flanked by plate-glass windows, which also line the recess. On the second floor a pair of projecting bay windows bookend a screened porch with a balustrade that has been added. Recognized on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982, the building now houses a tourist-oriented shop.
Picture the recessed entrance and plate-glass windows that still frame this corner of Main Street for you.