The Ernest Hemingway Birthplace is a historic home and museum in Oak Park, Illinois where American author Ernest Hemingway was born. Hemingway lived in the home with his family for the first six years of his life. The house, now owned by The Ernest Hemingway Foundation of Oak Park, is open for guided tours.
History
Hemingway was born in Oak Park, Illinois on July 21, 1899, in a home built by Hemingway's maternal grandparents, Caroline and Ernest Hall. Hemingway was the second child and first son of Dr. Clarence and Grace Hemingway. He lived in the Hall house for the first six years of his life with his parents, maternal grandfather, and three sisters. The house, currently numbered 339 North Oak Park Avenue, was the first home in Oak Park to have electricity. Across the street from the Hall home was the two story, white clapboard home of Hemingway's paternal grandparents, Anson and Adelaide Hemingway. Grandfather Hall, known to the Hemingway children as Abba, was a much loved family member. In later life, Marcelline Hemingway Sanford, Ernest's older sister, would write about Abba Hall, recalling his kindness, generosity, and entertaining stories that were a delight to young Marcelline and Ernest. Grace's maternal uncle, Tyley Hancock was a frequent visitor to the family home. He would often entertain the children with adventurous stories from his youth and from his travels as a salesman for the Hall family's wholesale cutlery business. Hemingway's mother Grace, was an operatic singer, voice teacher and composer. She earned money for the young family by teaching music and voice lessons. Hemingway's father, Clarence, a medical doctor, delivered three of the Hemingway children in an upstairs bedroom of the home. He would consult with medical patients in a small office between the first and second floor. According to Sanford, "It was to the office that Ernest and I were called for punishment when we misbehaved." Ernest's grandfather died in May, 1905, leaving the home to his daughter, Grace. By October, Grace had sold the house to Samuel Nissen, an Oak Park grocer. The Nissen family lived in the North Oak Park Avenue house for fifteen years, replacing the front porch with a screened in porch in 1914 and later replacing the clapboard exterior with aluminum siding. During the 1920s through the 1940s, the house was converted into a rooming house. The larger living areas and hall were divided and a bathroom was installed on the first floor. In 1951, the house was remodeled again to create a two-family residence. The house was purchased by The Ernest Hemingway Foundation of Oak Park in December 1992. The foundation embarked on a major renovation, using Sanford's description of her grandfather's home. The Ernest Hemingway birthplace was restored to its original 1890s layout, with Victorian period furnishings and original Hemingway family heirlooms. In 2001, the Ernest Hemingway Birthplace Museum was open to the public.
Description
Hemingway's maternal grandparents, Caroline and Ernest Hall, built the house in 1890 on land they purchased in November 1889. The architect was Wesley Arnold. The Victorian 3-story house consisted of first and second floors, a basement and an attic. The house exterior had wooden clapboard siding with a shingle roof. The house was initially painted gray with a darker gray trim. Window trim was a dark green. There was a large open wrap-around porch with open railings that covered the front of the house and the turret on the southeast corner. There was a small open porch in the back that provided access to the kitchen. On the first floor was an entrance hall with a formal stairway leading to the second floor. There was a long parlor to the left of the hall with a bay window facing the street. The parlor led into the formal dining room. Next to the dining room and parlor was a small library, where Hemingway's grandfather and great-uncle Tyley Hancock would smoke and drink wine after their evening meal. There were oak floors and yellow pine woodwork throughout most of the house, both stained a medium brown. Water lines had been installed along Oak Park Avenue before the house was built, making it possible for the house to have running water. The kitchen was a small dark room behind the dining room, with a door leading to the back porch, a stairway leading down to the cellar, and back stairway to the second floor for the servants. There were six bedrooms and a bathroom on the second floor. The Hemingway babies would sleep with their mother until they were old enough for the children's nursery. Hemingway and his older sister Marcelline shared the nursery when they were toddlers, sleeping in identical, white cribs with spindles.
