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Let's Explore
The Mark Twain House
Mark Twain House
351 Farmington Ave.
Hartford, CT 06105
860-493-6411
Web: marktwainhouse.org
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We have the privilege of giving you the experience to explore the "Mark Twain House".
We want to explore in this article, not only Mark Twain's home (Samuel Clemens)
but, also Mark Twain and his life.
In 1873 Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens) commissioned New York architects
Edward Tuckerman Potter and Alfred H. Thorp to design the family home.
The house was to be built in the Gothic style, and attracted the attention of
the local news even before the home was finished
Louis Comfort Tiffany and his firm Associated Artists of New York, completed
the interior of the home for the Clemen's. The interior was decorated with the
influences of from India, the Middle East, Japan and North Africa.
Many of Mark Twain's (Samuel Clemens) most famous books were written
in this Connecticut house. While living in this house between 1874 and 189l
he wrote eight major works. He was also raising his family, his three daughters,
in this most prolific time. Also, a son, Langdon, was born in 1870,
and died in 1872.
International celebrities were entertained at this house while
Mark Twain himself became very famous.
The girl's were educated in the home's second-floor schoolroom,
which was originally Twain's study.
His daughter's interruptions forced him to abandon the schoolroom and
move his work to the billiard room upstairs.
Twain would organize the manuscripts by spreading the pages out on
the billiard table. Olivia, his wife, would then do the editing for him.
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Through the 1880's the following Twain books were published:
The Prince and the Pauper (1881), Life on the Mississippi (1883),
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1885) and A Connecticut Yankee in
King Arthur's Court (1889).
As the decade drew to an end, Twain, had serious financial problems.
Bad investments and other financial faults caused financial ruin.
In 1891, the family left Connecticut for Europe,
where the cost of living was lower. In 1896, Twain's eldest daughter,
Susy, returned to the Connecticut home for a visit.
While she was at the home in Connecticut, she contracted meningitis
and died in the family home.
After Susy's death the family never occupied the house again.
Twain sold the property in 1903.
The house was later turned into a boy's school and after that
an apartment building. But, in 1919, a group of local citizens
recognized the home's historic importance and developed plans to preserve it.
Ten years later, the state-chartered mark Twain Memorial and
Library Commission purchased the property.
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Mark Twain's Family
Mark Twain's Drawing Room
Mark Twain's Billard Room
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In 1955 the trustees began the task of restoring the home.
Their goal was to have the project completed by the home's
100th anniversary in 1974.
Many donations were made and the museum's collection now contains
approximately 50,000 artifacts, including Twain's original manuscripts
and first editions, historic photographs, family furnishings and Tiffany glass.
The "Mark Twain House", is a National Historic Landmark dedicated to
preserving and promoting the author's legacy.
There is so much history behind this house and wonderful furnishings
to explore that will keep your family enchanted for a long time.
Explore the Mark Twain House and leave with a little piece of history.
Happy Exploring!
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