Annie Robinson is a Brunswick-based architectural historian who will be leading a walking tour of the South Freeport waterfront as part of Harraseeket Heritage Day, a celebration of the South Freeport’s maritime past and present sponsored by the Freeport Historical Society, on June 22.

She is a real estate agent with Morton Realty in Brunswick, a job that allows her to combine a love for architectural history with helping people find their dream homes. The 62-year-old Robinson has been a teaching fellow at Harvard University, an art history professor at New Hampshire’s Plymouth State College and a teaching assistant at Tufts University in Boston. In 2010, Robinson wrote “Peabody and Stearns: Country Houses and Seaside Cottages,” the first book devoted to the Boston firm of Peabody & Stearns, one of the leading architects of the Gilded Age. It includes history, biography, and a complete survey of the firm’s country house commissions. The book received the prestigious Henry Russell Hitchcock Award for outstanding book in the area of 19th-century architecture from The Victorian Society in America for 2010.

A Western Massachusetts native, Robinson recently sat down with the Tri-Town Weekly to discuss what an architectural historian is, how we can learn social history through houses and what’s in store when she leads a walking tour of South Freeport’s historic homes.

Q: What is an architectural historian?

A: There are a couple of different kinds of architectural historians. Some are more archaeologically motivated, like the folks that are working on the Fort Richmond project (a Maine Historic Preservation Commission archaeological dig from the foundation of Fort Richmond at the head of the Richmond-Dresden Bridge) who are really interested in dating the artifacts, digging things up, and looking at the structures. What I’m more focused on is social history of architecture and architects and why people settle where they do. I’m also working on the national registration for downtown Brunswick as a historic district.

Q: How did you become interested in this field?

A: I always loved houses, but didn’t become trained as an architectural historian until I was in my 40s. It was something I always wanted to do, so I went back to school. It was a lifelong interest that I finally explored.

Q: As an architectural historian, what is unique about Maine and New England?

A: The waterfront in Maine has caused us to develop more waterfront-oriented architecture. The thing that I’m particularly interested in is resort architecture and that relates to the book that I did on Peabody and Stearns. People came from all over the country and all over the world to vacation in the mountains and waterfront of New England, initially because it was more healthy and then developed into more of a recreational pursuit.

Q: Can you give an example of how we can learn social history through architecture?

A: The whole concept of the big house, little house and a barn is about how buildings evolve based on how they are used. If you have extended families that have to accommodate more than one generation, then a house is built accordingly. In modern times when I was growing up, it was just mother and father, a couple of kids, and grandma and grandpa lived 400 miles away. Now, we’re actually seeing that reversed as people are looking for houses that have in-law apartments. Older parents are coming to live with their grown children as the population ages. We’re seeing a shift in the architecture, maybe not the styles, but certainly the function and the size.

Q: Do you think smaller houses are becoming more popular?

A: There is a big push in one area of the market for smaller homes that leave less of a carbon footprint and that use repurposed building materials.

Q: What type of house did you grow up in?

A: I grew up in a big brick, 1920’ house in western Massachusetts.

Q: What can people expect that take your walking tour during Harraseeket Heritage Day?

A: My part is going to be a walking tour along the South Freeport waterfront streets. I’ll talk about what the history of the area was, how the houses reflect how people were living, what their interests were and how it relates to then and now.