Harriet Beecher Stowe House

The Harriet Beecher Stowe House was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1970. This photograph and the following descriptions were included with its nomination form.

Architecturally, the Stowe House is a fine example of the Gothic cottage. The unknown designer of the Stowe House, built in 1871, showed the Victorian attention to decorative motifs and skill in creating a distinctive design. He employed a subtle combination of elements of the rustic cottage with the Gothic villa, translated into brick.

Historically, the Stowe House was part of a remarkable neighborhood known as Hook Farm. On the western edge of Hartford, Connecticut, a wide meander of the Park River once embraced a heavily wooded tract long known as The Nook. In this area there developed a neighborhood of interrelated families and friends, whose wide range of interests and accomplishments made Nook Farm a cultural center and a mecca for distinguished visitors during the second half of the 19th century.

Its two foremost residents, Harriet Beecher Stowe (1811 - 1896) and Samuel L. Clemens (1835 - 1910), attained international fame. Mrs. Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin reached the emotions of the nation and helped change its attitude about slavery and the course of our country’s portrayals of New England character and village life. The public continues to relish the keenness of Mark Twain’s wit and his rare insight into the weaknesses and inconsistencies of mankind.

Restoration of the Stowe House was made possible by the foresight and generosity of the late Miss Katharine Seymour Day, a grand-niece of Harriet Beecher Stowe. Miss Day lived in the Stowe House from 1927 until her death in 1964. In 1941 Miss Day established the Stowe-Day Memorial Library and Historical Foundation to which she bequeathed her entire estate.