Mark Twain House and Museum
Mark Twain home functioned as apartment building, library and school. In 1962, the house was declared as ò€˜National Historic Landmarkò€™ and since 1974 it has been renovated and expanded to show the life and work of Mark twain.The house has 19 rooms in total and the architectural style is Victorian Gothic. This house is also where Mark twain wrote his master pieces The Gilded Age, Life on the Mississippi, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, A Tramp Abroad, The Prince and the Pauper, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur"s Court, and Huckleberry Finn.
The design for Mark twain was done by the architect Edward Tuckerman potter. Constructed on 3.5 acres, the house had seven bedrooms and bathrooms, plant-filled conservatory and carriage house. The bay windows extended all the way up to form turrets that were then topped with porches. This allowed the Mark Twain and guests to have a view of pastoral area of the Hartford. The legend says that the Mark Twain House was designed to give a riverboat look as it had a typical steeped pitched roof, asymmetric bay window and Victorian Gothic architectural style.
The top floor had the billiards room as well as private study. This was where Twain wrote late at night. It is said that this room was off limits to everyone except for the house cleaners. This room was also used to entertain the male guests with liquor and cigar.
Mark Twain children also had a separate area to themselves. This area had a classroom, playroom and nursery. The daughters were tutored by Mrs. Clemens on second floor. Twain along with his children played in conservatory. It is said that Twain pretended to be an elephant.
Twain loved living in his house. One of the reasons was that many of his friend-authors lived in neighborhood namely Isabella Beechar Hooker and Harriet Beecher Stowe.
In 1881, the home underwent renovation in 1881 when adjoining land strip was purchased. It is believed that he was inspired to renovate because of the success of ò€˜Adventures of Tom Sawyerò€™. During renovation, the kitchen was rebuilt and its size was doubled, the front hall was also enlarged and the driveway was also redrawn. Also, burglar alarm, heating and plumbing was installed. Twain was also a fan of new technologies and so he also installed early telephone in entrance hall.
After returning from Europe and death of daughter Suzy, the house was sold to Richard M.Bissell in 1903. After this it was again sold in 1922 and 1929. In 1955 till 1974, the restoration process if house began. It was opened as museum in 1960s. As of today, Mark Twain House and Museum attracts lot of tourists. It is said that five million dollars are generated in tourism. Currently, the house is said to be facing financial difficulties.