| Twain, Mark, House | |
|---|---|
| (U.S. National Historic Landmark) | |
 | |
| Location: | Hartford, Connecticut |
| Coordinates: | Coordinates: |
| Built/Founded: | 1874 |
| Architect: | Edward Tuckerman Potter |
| Architectural style(s): | Gothic |
| Designated as NHL: | December 29, 1962[1] |
| Added to NRHP: | October 15, 1966[2] |
| NRHP Reference#: | 66000884 |
| Governing body: | Private |
The Mark Twain House and Museum was the home of Mark Twain (a. The United States of America —commonly referred to as the A National Historic Landmark (NHL is a Building, site, Structure, Object, or District, that is officially recognized by the A geographic coordinate system enables every location on the Earth to be specified in three coordinates using mainly a spherical coordinate system. Edward Tuckerman Potter (born September 25, 1831 in Schenectady New York) was an American Architect best known for designing the 1871 Mark See also Gothic art Gothic architecture is a style of Architecture which flourished during the high and late medieval period. A National Historic Landmark (NHL is a Building, site, Structure, Object, or District, that is officially recognized by the Events 1170 - Thomas Becket: Thomas Becket Archbishop of Canterbury is assassinated inside Canterbury Cathedral by followers of King Henry II Year 1962 ( MCMLXII) was a Common year starting on Monday (the link is to a full 1962 calendar of the Gregorian calendar. The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP is the United States government's official list of districts sites buildings structures and objects deemed worthy of Events 533 - Byzantine General Belisarius makes his formal entry into Carthage, having conquered it from the Year 1966 ( MCMLXVI) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link will display full calendar of the 1966 Gregorian calendar. Samuel Langhorne Clemens (November 30 1835 – April 21 1910 better known by the Pen name Mark Twain, was an American Humorist, satirist k. a. Samuel Langhorne Clemens) from 1874 to 1891 in Hartford, Connecticut, USA. Year 1874 ( MDCCCLXXIV) was a Common year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common Year 1891 ( MDCCCXCI) was a Common year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common The United States of America —commonly referred to as the Before 1874, Twain had lived in Hannibal, Missouri. Hannibal is a city in Marion and Ralls counties in the US state of Missouri. The architectural style of the 19-room house itself is Victorian Gothic. Also known as Victorian High Gothic, Victorian Gothic is a style of Architecture popular in the middle and late 19th century
The house is also notable for the major works written during his residency, including The Gilded Age, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, The Prince and the Pauper, Life on the Mississippi, Huckleberry Finn, A Tramp Abroad and A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court. The Gilded Age A Tale of Today is an 1873 novel by Mark Twain and Charles Dudley Warner satirizing greed and political corruption in post- Civil War The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, by Mark Twain, is a popular 1876 Novel about a young boy growing up in the Antebellum South The Prince and the Pauper is a novel by Mark Twain. It was first published in 1881 in Canada before its 1882 publication in the United States Life on the Mississippi is a Memoir by Mark Twain detailing his days as a Steamboat pilot on the Mississippi River before the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (often shortened to Huck Finn) is a novel written by American Humorist Mark Twain. A Tramp Abroad is a work of non-fiction Travel literature by American author Mark Twain, published in 1880. A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court is an 1889 Novel by American Humorist and Writer Mark Twain.
Bad financial investments caused the Twain family to move to Europe in 1891. [3] When they returned to Connecticut in 1900 he lived in a house built for him in Redding, Connecticut,named Stormfield, where he died on April 21, 1910. Events 753 BC - Romulus and Remus found Rome ( traditional date) Year 1910 ( MCMX) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link will display calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common year starting His home in Hartford functioned as a school, an apartment building, and a library after that. In 1962 it was declared a National Historic Landmark. A National Historic Landmark (NHL is a Building, site, Structure, Object, or District, that is officially recognized by the [1][4] Since 1974 it has had a multi-million dollar renovation and an expansion dedicated to showcasing his life and work.
Contents |
Life in the house
Mark Twain moved to Hartford in 1871 and purchased the property for his new house in north Hartford. The Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS Historic American Engineering Record (HAER and Historic American Landscapes Survey (HALS are programs of the He did so to be closer to his publisher, American Publishing Company. [5] Of Hartford, Twain said, "Of all the beautiful towns it has been my fortune to see, this is the chief. . . You do not know what beauty is if you have not been here. "[6] While in Connecticut, the family remarked "[the house] had a heart, and a soul, and eyes to see us with. "
The top floor was the billiards room and his private study, where Twain would write late at night; the room was strictly off limits to all but the cleaning staff. It was also used for entertaining male guests with cigars and liquor. Twain had said "There ought to be a room in this house to swear in" and "It's dangerous to have to repress an emotion like that. "
The children had their own area, with a nursery and a playroom/classroom. And Twain played with his children in the conservatory, pretending to be an elephant in an imaginary safari. SAFARI was an attempt by the French government under the presidency of Georges Pompidou, to create a centralized database of personal data Twain noted the house "was of us, and we were in its confidence and lived in its grace and in the peace of its benediction. "[7]
Twain loved living in the house, partly because he knew many different authors from his Hartford neighborhood, such as Harriet Beecher Stowe who lived next door and Isabella Beecher Hooker. Harriet Beecher Stowe (June 14 1811 – July 1 1896 was an American Author and Abolitionist, whose Novel Uncle Tom's Cabin Isabella Beecher Hooker ( February 22 1822 &ndash January 25 1907) was a leader in the Women's suffrage movement and an author [8] Also, he would stop in to visit his friend, actor William Gillette at Gillette Castle (today Gillette Castle State Park). William Hooker Gillette ( b July 24, 1853, Hartford, Connecticut; d Gillette Castle State Park is located in East Haddam Connecticut in the United States.
In 1881, with the success of Tom Sawyer, Twain had Louis Comfort Tiffany supervise the interior decoration of the house. Louis Comfort Tiffany ( February 18, 1848 &ndash January 17, 1933) was an American artist and designer who worked in the decorative arts [9] Twain was also fascinated with new technologies, leading to the installation of an early telephone in the entrance hall. Basic principle A traditional landline telephone system also known as "plain old telephone service" (POTS, commonly handles both signaling and audio information [10] In that same year, Twain formed the firm Charles L. Webster & Company, which published Twain's writings along with Ulysses S. Grant's memoirs. Ulysses S Grant, born Hiram Ulysses Grant (April 27 1822 &ndash July 23 1885 was an American general and the eighteenth President of the United States [11]
The company went bankrupt in 1894 because of the automated typesetting machine, leaving Twain with a large amount of debt. [11] After enduring several bank panics and losses from investments in a typesetting machine, the Twains moved to Europe in 1891 where living was cheaper. [8]
Twain began lecturing across the continent to recoup some money for their family, but tragedy prevented their return to the house. In 1893 Twain's publishing company went bankrupt, Susy Clemens died of meningitis in 1896 after a visit to Hartford, and Olivia refused to ever visit the house again. Meningitis is Inflammation of the protective membranes covering the Brain and Spinal cord, known collectively as the Meninges. [7] In 1903 the house was sold. [8]
Architecture and construction
The house was designed by Edward Tuckerman Potter, an architect from New York City. An architect is a licensed individual who leads a design team in the Planning and Design of buildings and participates in oversight of Building Construction The City of New York [12] When the house was being built, the Hartford Daily Times noted, "The novelty displayed in the architecture of the building, the oddity of its internal arrangement and the fame of its owner will all conspire to make it a house of note for a long time to come. "[8] The total cost of the house was $40,000, paid out of Mrs. Clemens' inheritance. [8]
The house was built on 3. 5 acres of land and designed with seven bedrooms, seven bathrooms, a carriage house, and plant-filled conservatory. A conservatory is a Glass and Metal structure traditionally found in the Garden of a large house Bay windows extend up to form turrets that were topped with porches, allowing Twain and guests a view of what was a very pastoral area of Hartford. A bay window is a Window space projecting outward from the main Walls of a building and forming a bay in a room either square or Polygonal in plan In Architecture, a turret (from Italian: torretta, little tower Latin: turris, tower is a small Tower that The home is in the style of Victorian Gothic Revival architecture, including the typical steeply-pitched roof and an asymmetrical bay window layout. The Gothic Revival is an architectural movement which began A bay window is a Window space projecting outward from the main Walls of a building and forming a bay in a room either square or Polygonal in plan Legend says the home was designed to look like a riverboat. A riverboat is Ship designed for Inland navigation. These vessels are usually less sturdy than ships built for the open seas with limited navigational and [3]
Post-Twain
In 1905 the house was significantly repaired, but it was also significantly altered, deviating from its original design. This was known to have caused marked uproar among the northeastern Missouri intelligentsia. The chimneys and brick work were also altered. The house was used as a private home, a boys' school, and an apartment building.
In 1929, a group of preservationists, the Friends of Hartford,[13] formed the Mark Twain Memorial and Library Commission and purchased the building to prevent its demolition and rented the ground floor to meet expenses. During this period, doors were added to the building, further deviating from the original design. The house was restored in the 1950s and declared a National Historic Landmark in 1963. [8]
The house was opened as a museum in the 1960s. The process of paying off the mortgage, raising money to restore the deteriorating property, and retrieving artifacts, furnishings, and personal possessions took many decades and ended in 1974, just in time for the 100th anniversary of the house. [8] The house earned the David E. Finley Award in 1977 for "exemplary restoration" from the National Trust for Historic Preservation. The National Trust for Historic Preservation is an American member-supported organization that was founded in 1949 by Congressional charter to support preservation [14]
Recent renovations
Restoration and preservation at the Mark Twain House helped bring the house and grounds back to the years between 1881 and 1891, when the Twains most loved the house. The Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS Historic American Engineering Record (HAER and Historic American Landscapes Survey (HALS are programs of the The marble floor in the front hallway underwent a historic restoration, and specialists re-stenciled and painted the walls and ceilings and refinishing the woodwork to recover the Tiffany-decorated interiors. Restoration was funded in part by two federal Save America’s Treasures grants totaling $3 million. Save America's Treasures is a United States Federal initiative to preserve and protect American historic buildings arts and published works Scanning computers were also used in the restoration. [15] The home today contains 50,000 artifacts; manuscripts, historic photographs, family furnishings, and Tiffany Glass. Louis Comfort Tiffany ( February 18, 1848 &ndash January 17, 1933) was an American artist and designer who worked in the decorative arts Many of the original furnishings, including Twain's ornate Venetian bed, an intricately carved mantel from a Scottish castle, and a billiard table, remain at the house. Venice ( Italian: Venezia, Venetian: Venesia or Venexia) is a city in Northern Italy, the capital of the
With the number of admissions leveling off around 53,000, the house's trustees decided that they must expand or be forced to shrink their operations. They commissioned Robert A. M. Stern, the founder of the Manhattan architectural firm that bears his name and the dean of the Yale School of Architecture, to design a visitor's center that would not draw attention away from the house. Robert Arthur Morton Stern, usually credited as Robert A M Stern, (born May 23 1939) is an American Architect and Dean of the The Yale School of Architecture is one of the constituent professional schools of Yale University. [8]
The Education and Visitors Center was built adjacent to Twain’s Carriage House. The center is a $16. 3 million, 35,000-square-foot facility that will house artifacts from the museum’s collection that cannot now be shown in the House itself. It contains a lecture hall and classroom facilities. [9] The house will receive $1 million from the state government to meet expenses related to the construction of the museum and restoration of the house. Since the museum opened in November 2003, attendance has increased by 15%. [16]
The house generates $5 million in tourism from 50,000 visitors. [17] The Aetna foundation gave $500,000 to the campaign. Aetna Inc ( is an American diversified Health care benefits company providing a range of traditional and Consumer directed health care insurance [18] The National Endowment for the Humanities also granted $800,000 in challenge grants for teacher development programs, a student writing contest, and an educational website. [19]The Museum was the first in America to receive a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification. The Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design ( LEED) Green Building Rating System developed by the U [20]
References
- ^ a b Mark Twain House. National Historic Landmark summary listing. National Park Service. Retrieved on 2007-10-05. Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. Events 869 - The Fourth Council of Constantinople is convened to decide about what to do about Patriarch Photius of Constantinople
- ^ National Register Information System. National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service (2007-01-23). Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. Events 393 - Roman Emperor Theodosius I proclaims his nine year old son Honorius co-emperor
- ^ a b Haas, Irvin. Historic Homes of American Authors. Washington, DC: The Preservation Press, 1991. ISBN 0891331808. p. 31
- ^ Blanche Higgins Schroer and J. Walter Coleman (November 6, 1974), National Register of Historic Places Inventory-Nomination: Mark Twain HousePDF (659 KiB), National Park Service. A kibibyte (a contraction of ki lo bi nary byte) is a unit of Information or Computer storage, established by the International Accompanying 5 photos, exterior and interior, from c.1965, 1968, 1974 and pre-1970PDF (928 KiB)
- ^ History of the Institution. A kibibyte (a contraction of ki lo bi nary byte) is a unit of Information or Computer storage, established by the International The Mark Twain House and Museum (2004). Retrieved on 2006-06-12. Year 2006 ( MMVI) was a Common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. Events 1381 - Peasants' Revolt: in England, rebels arrive at Blackheath.
- ^ Haas, Irvin. Historic Homes of American Authors. Washington, DC: The Preservation Press, 1991. ISBN 0891331808. p. 29
- ^ a b Singer, Stephen (June 4th, 2002). Twain's house a symbol of his success. The Associated Press. Retrieved on 2006-06-12. Year 2006 ( MMVI) was a Common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. Events 1381 - Peasants' Revolt: in England, rebels arrive at Blackheath.
- ^ a b c d e f g h Charles, Eleanor (January 20, 2002). In the Region/Connecticut; Visitors' Center to Be Built at Mark Twain House. New York Times. Retrieved on 2006-06-12. Year 2006 ( MMVI) was a Common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. Events 1381 - Peasants' Revolt: in England, rebels arrive at Blackheath.
- ^ a b Remodeling:The Mark Twain House. HGTV (2006). Retrieved on 2006-06-12. Year 2006 ( MMVI) was a Common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. Events 1381 - Peasants' Revolt: in England, rebels arrive at Blackheath.
- ^ Mark Twain House. frommers. com (2006). Retrieved on 2006-06-12. Year 2006 ( MMVI) was a Common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. Events 1381 - Peasants' Revolt: in England, rebels arrive at Blackheath.
- ^ a b Mark Twain Biography. hannibal. net (2006). Retrieved on 2006-06-12. Year 2006 ( MMVI) was a Common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. Events 1381 - Peasants' Revolt: in England, rebels arrive at Blackheath.
- ^ Haas, Irvin. Historic Homes of American Authors. Washington, DC: The Preservation Press, 1991. ISBN 0891331808. p. 29-30
- ^ Haas, Irvin. Historic Homes of American Authors. Washington, DC: The Preservation Press, 1991. ISBN 0891331808. p. 32
- ^ Senators Dodd, Lieberman Secure $496,000 for Mark Twain House and Museum. Senate. gov (August 5th, 2005). Retrieved on 2006-06-12. Year 2006 ( MMVI) was a Common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. Events 1381 - Peasants' Revolt: in England, rebels arrive at Blackheath.
- ^ Kendall, David. The Mark Twain House. Antiques and the Arts Online. Retrieved on 2006-06-12. Year 2006 ( MMVI) was a Common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. Events 1381 - Peasants' Revolt: in England, rebels arrive at Blackheath.
- ^ Schain, Dennis (January 31st, 2005). Governor Rell Announces $1 Million for Mark Twain House and Museum. ct. gov. Retrieved on 2006-06-12. Year 2006 ( MMVI) was a Common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. Events 1381 - Peasants' Revolt: in England, rebels arrive at Blackheath.
- ^ Larson, John B. (October 13th, 2000). LARSON ANNOUNCES $1 MILLION IN FUNDING FOR MARK TWAIN HOUSE. house. gov. Retrieved on 2006-06-12. Year 2006 ( MMVI) was a Common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. Events 1381 - Peasants' Revolt: in England, rebels arrive at Blackheath.
- ^ Bush, David (2001). Aetna And The Aetna Foundation Announce $500,000 Gift To The Mark Twain House. Aetna. Retrieved on 2006-06-12. Year 2006 ( MMVI) was a Common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. Events 1381 - Peasants' Revolt: in England, rebels arrive at Blackheath.
- ^ Olson, Elizabeth (December 23rd, 2005). Arts, Briefly; New Humanities Grants. New York Times. Retrieved on 2006-06-12. Year 2006 ( MMVI) was a Common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. Events 1381 - Peasants' Revolt: in England, rebels arrive at Blackheath.
- ^ Chatalbash, Roy. "Museums Are Going Green - Why Not You?. Antiques and Fine Art. Retrieved on 2008-06-05. 2008 ( MMVIII) is the current year in accordance with the Gregorian calendar, a Leap year that started on Tuesday of the Common Events 70 - Titus and his Roman Legions breach the middle wall of Jerusalem in the Siege of Jerusalem
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