Mark Twain House: A Grand Home for an American Writer

Larger than life: Art that inspires us through the ages

The Mark Twain House’s main exterior architectural design feature, according to Society of Architectural Historians, is the extensive wood bracing of the gables, porch, and railings in what was known as “stick style.” Approaching the front of the home, visitors are struck by the conspicuous octagonal tower and the large wraparound porch. Red brick masonry is set off with a patterned, tricolor slate tile roof and four polychrome-brickwork chimneystacks. Courtesy of the Mark Twain House

Volumes have been written about the quintessentially American author who was inspired by his experience as a Mississippi riverboat pilot to choose the name by which he would pen his works. The term “mark twain,” a steamboat depth measurement, became Samuel Langhorne Clemens’s pseudonym, with which classic literary works such as “Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” and “The Prince and the Pauper” were associated.

Although born in Florida, Missouri, Clemens moved to Hartford, Connecticut, in 1871 after his career as an author took off, because he was fond of the area. After renting a home for a time, Clemens and his wife, Olivia, enlisted well-known New York architect Edward Tuckerman Potter to design in 1873 their 11,500-square-foot, 25-room dream home, where, not surprisingly, the library is central. It was here, with his wife and three children, that Mark Twain was most prolific.