For Portland insurance executive Ralph S Norton, the erection of his new home in Falmouth Foreside in 1912 was a symbol of his success, as well as an evolution away from his rural background. Built on the site of his family's small farm at the edge of Casco Bay, Norton could not have found a better site upon which to erect a house that befitted his economic and social advances. In the first decade of the twentieth century coastal property in the Portland suburbs of Falmouth Foreside and Cape Elizabeth had become the locations of choice for new architect designed homes of the area's professional elite. Following the lead of his neighbors, Ralph Norton secured the firm John Calvin Stevens and John Howard Stevens to design an eclectic Prairie style house on a high ridge overlooking Casco Bay. The estate also included an unusually shaped, Prairie Style stable for Norton's carriages and horses, and surrounding the house were carefully Grafted picturesque walks, terraces, ponds, gardens and small structures, which may have been prepared in conjunction with noted Portland landscape architect Carl Rust Parker. - NRHP, 18 December 2003