Thomas Wolfe House

Thomas Wolfe House
Location 52 N Market St. Asheville, North Carolina
Coordinates 35°35′51″N 82°33′03″W / 35.59750°N 82.55083°WCoordinates: 35°35′51″N 82°33′03″W / 35.59750°N 82.55083°W
Built 1883
Architect Unknown
Architectural style Queen Anne
Governing body Local
NRHP Reference # 71000572
Significant dates
Added to NRHP November 11, 1971[1]
Designated NHL November 11, 1971[2]
Front porch of Wolfe's "Old Kentucky Home"

The Thomas Wolfe House, also known as the Thomas Wolfe Memorial, is a historic house and museum located at 52 North Market Street in downtown Asheville, North Carolina. The American author Thomas Wolfe (1900-1938) lived in the home during his boyhood.

The two-story frame house was built in 1883, influenced by the Queen Anne Style of architecture.[3] By 1906, when Wolfe's mother, Julia E. (Westall) Wolfe (1860-1945), bought the house, it was a boarding house named Old Kentucky Home. She soon went to live at her business with Tom, while the other Wolfes remained at their Woodfin Street residence. Wolfe lived at the boarding house until he went to the University of North Carolina in 1916. Julia Wolfe enlarged the house in 1917 by adding five rooms.

Wolfe used the house as the setting for his first novel, Look Homeward, Angel (1929). Changing the name of his mother's boarding house to "Dixieland" in his autobiographical fiction, he incorporated his own experiences among family, friends and boarders into the book.

The Thomas Wolfe House was designated a National Historic Landmark on November 11, 1971.[2][4] It is located in the Downtown Asheville Historic District.

References

  1. ↑ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. 2007-01-23.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 "Thomas Wolfe House". National Historic Landmark summary listing. National Park Service. Retrieved 2008-02-23.
  3. ↑ "Thomas Wolfe Memorial: Old Kentucky Home – "Dixieland". North Carolina Historic Sites. Retrieved 2008-09-22.
  4. ↑ John D. McDermott (April 15, 1970). "National Register of Historic Places Inventory-Nomination: Thomas Wolfe House / The Thomas Wolfe Memorial / "The Old Kentucky Home"" (pdf). National Park Service. and Accompanying one photo, exterior, from 1970 PDF (32 KB)

External links