HISTORIC HOME INSPIRATION - THE HOUSE OF SEVEN GABLES

The House of Seven Gables is located in Salem, MA and is open to the public as a museum. The property's website gives a brief history of the home, and its connection to Nathaniel Hawthorne.

The House of the Seven Gables was built by a Salem sea captain and merchant named John Turner in 1668 and occupied by three generations of the Turner family before being sold to Captain Samuel Ingersoll in 1782. An active captain during the Great Age of Sail, Ingersoll died at sea leaving the property to his daughter Susanna, a cousin of famed author Nathaniel Hawthorne. Hawthorne's visits to his cousin's home are credited with inspiring the setting and title of his 1851 novel The House of the Seven Gables. (www.7gables.org) 

Vintage postcards show the interior

Some inspiration...

HISTORIC HOME INSPIRATION: THE AMERICAN GOTHIC HOUSE

Also known as the Dibble House, the American Gothic House is the famous backdrop of Grant Wood's 1930 painting, American Gothic. Located in Eldon, Iowa, the house was listed on the National Register in 1974 and operates as a museum today.

The house is an example of an American vernacular style of architecture from the early 20th century: Carpenter Gothic. The style grew out of a need for quickly built homes and a desire for fanciful details. The price to add fanciful details to wood-framed structures decreased significantly so that even the humblest homes were able to incorporate some extra beauty. Identifying features of Carpenter Gothic include steeply-pitched roofs and gables, carved porch railings, strong vertical design elements, such as board and batten siding, and of course, pointed-arch windows. (American Gothic Website)

Some inspiration from the simple design of the American Gothic House:

HISTORIC HOME INSPIRATION - HEARST CASTLE

Hearst Castle, located in San Simeon, CA, was commissioned by William Randolph Hearst, the son of a wealthy miner. In 1919 he hired Julia Morgan, a San Francisco architect, to help to build his dream home. The castle was completed in 1947, totaling 165 rooms with 127 acres of outdoor landscaping. (via www.hearstcastle.org) The estate is an amalgamation of architectural styles, but is commonly classified as Mediterranean revival.

Some everyday inspiration from Hearst Castle:

See all of the Historic Home Inspiration posts here!

HISTORIC HOME INSPIRATION - WILLIAM WATTS SHERMAN HOUSE

The William Watts Sherman House was designed by Henry Hobson Richardson, an American architect who famously designed Boston's Trinity Church along with Albany, NY's City Hall, the Marshall Field Wholesale Store in Chicago, and was a contributor to the design of the New York State Capitol.

The home became the prototype for a class of American architecture, the Shingle Style. Located in Newport, RI, the summer home was built from 1895-96 for William Watts Sherman, a wealthy banker from New York. It was acquired by Salve Regina University in 1982.

Inspired by Richardson's Shingle Style design:

Check out past Historic Home Inspiration entries here!

HISTORIC HOME INSPIRATION - THE GLASS HOUSE

The Glass House is located in New Canaan, CT and was designed by Philip Johnson. It is open to the public through the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

"The house, which ushered the International Style into residential American architecture, is iconic because of its seamless integration into the landscape. Philip Johnson, who lived in the Glass House from 1949 until his death in 2005, conceived of it as half a composition, completed by the neighboring Brick House." Visit the official Glass House website to learn more!

Inspired by the Glass House: