Hawthorn Hill
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Hawthorn Hill in Oakwood, Ohio, USA was the family home of the Wright family. It was originally intended to be the home of the Wright Brothers with Wilbur and Orville each to occupy a wing. The brothers hired the prominent architectural firm of Schenck and Williams to realize their plans. Wilbur died in 1912 before the home was completed and Orville and his father Milton and sister Katharine occupied the home in 1914.
The mansion originally sat on seventeen acres, a portion of which was sold after Orville's death in 1948. It was named Hawthorn for the trees found on the property and the fact that the family had lived on Hawthorn Street in Dayton, Ohio when they were growing up.
Many of the mechanical features of the house, such as the shower [1], the water storage tank used to collect and recycle rainwater [2], and the central vacuum system [3] were designed by Orville Wright and reflect his creative genius. For 34 years, this house was the gathering place for the greats and near-greats in the history of American aviation.
The home was owned by the NCR Corporation after Orville's death until August 18, 2006, when the company donated the historic home to the Wright Family Foundation in honor of Orville's 135th birthday and National Aviation Day. [4] [5] NCR used it as a guesthouse for corporate VIPs and for corporate functions. On occasion the home was opened to the general public.
The mansion interior was extensively redecorated after Orville's death. Only Orville's study remains as it was during the family's occupancy. However, Col. Edward A. Deeds, then chairman of the National Cash Register Company sent a photographer to the home immediately following Orville's death to make a record of the home at that time. Some of the original Wright furnishings can be seen at the Kettering-Moraine Museum.
The home was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1991.
