Rocking chairs on front porch, Thomas Wolfe House IMG 5173

The Thomas Wolfe House, also known as the Thomas Wolfe Memorial, is a state historic site,

historic house A historic house generally meets several criteria before being listed by an official body as "historic." Generally the building is at least a certain age, depending on the rules for the individual list. A second factor is that the building be in ...

and

museum A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and other objects of artistic, cultural, historical, or scientific importance. Many public museums make th ...

located at 52 North Market Street in downtown

Asheville, North Carolina Asheville ( ) is a city in, and the county seat of, Buncombe County, North Carolina. Located at the confluence of the French Broad and Swannanoa rivers, it is the largest city in Western North Carolina, and the state's 11th-most populous cit ...

. The American author

Thomas Wolfe Thomas Clayton Wolfe (October 3, 1900 – September 15, 1938) was an American novelist of the early 20th century. Wolfe wrote four lengthy novels as well as many short stories, dramatic works, and novellas. He is known for mixing highly origi ...

(1900–1938) lived in the home during his boyhood. The house was designated a

National Historic Landmark A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the United States government for its outstanding historical significance. Only some 2,500 (~3%) of over 90,000 places liste ...

in 1971 for its association with Wolfe. and It is located in the

Downtown Asheville Historic District Downtown Asheville Historic District is a national historic district located at Asheville, Buncombe County, North Carolina. The district encompasses about 279 contributing buildings and one contributing object in the central business district of ...

History

The two-story frame house was built in 1883, influenced by

Queen Anne style architecture in the United States Queen Anne style architecture was one of a number of popular Victorian architectural styles that emerged in the United States during the period from roughly 1880 to 1910. Popular there during this time, it followed the Second Empire and Stick s ...

. 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 The University of North Carolina is the multi-campus public university system for the state of North Carolina. Overseeing the state's 16 public universities and the NC School of Science and Mathematics, it is commonly referred to as the UNC S ...

in 1916. Julia Wolfe enlarged the house in 1917 by adding five rooms. Wolfe used the house as the

setting Setting may refer to: * A location (geography) where something is set * Set construction in theatrical scenery * Setting (narrative), the place and time in a work of narrative, especially fiction * Setting up to fail a manipulative technique to e ...

for his first

novel A novel is a relatively long work of narrative fiction, typically written in prose and published as a book. The present English word for a long work of prose fiction derives from the for "new", "news", or "short story of something new", itself ...

, ''

Look Homeward, Angel ''Look Homeward, Angel: A Story of the Buried Life'' is a 1929 novel by Thomas Wolfe. It is Wolfe's first novel, and is considered a highly autobiographical American coming-of-age story. The character of Eugene Gant is generally believed to be ...

'' (

1929 This year marked the end of a period known in American history as the Roaring Twenties after the Wall Street Crash of 1929 ushered in a worldwide Great Depression. In the Americas, an agreement was brokered to end the Cristero War, a Catholic ...

). 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 house became a memorial to Wolfe after his mother's death (he having died relatively young of

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, ...

). It has been open to visitors since the 1950s, owned by the state of North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources since 1976 and designated as a

. In 1998, 200 of the house's 800 original artifacts and the house's dining room were destroyed by a fire set by an arsonist during the

Bele Chere Bele Chere was an annual music and arts street festival held in downtown Asheville, North Carolina. The festival was previously held annually on the last weekend in July since 1979. It was the largest free festival in the Southeastern United Stat ...

street festival. The perpetrator remains unknown. After a $2.4 million restoration, the house was re-opened in 2003.

References

External links

*
Thomas Wolfe Memorial – Asheville, North Carolina, Historic SiteAsheville, North Carolina, a National Park Service ''Discover Our Shared Heritage'' Travel Itinerary
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wolfe, Thomas, House Thomas Wolfe National Historic Landmarks in North Carolina Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in North Carolina Houses completed in 1883 Queen Anne architecture in North Carolina Historic house museums in North Carolina Museums in Asheville, North Carolina Biographical museums in North Carolina Literary museums in the United States North Carolina State Historic Sites National Register of Historic Places in Buncombe County, North Carolina Houses in Asheville, North Carolina Historic district contributing properties in North Carolina Wolfe, Thomas House

History

See also

References

External links