“Decidedly, I’m a better landscape gardener than a novelist,” Edith Wharton once declared. Indeed, Wharton, whose birthday we celebrate today, was as much a designer and tastemaker during her life as she was a writer. In fact, her first published book, The Decoration of Houses, was a design manual, and so many of her novels glow with beautiful descriptions of design, atmosphere, and costume that could only have come from a knowledgeable hand.
Wharton built her estate, The Mount, in 1902, and if you ask us, its rolling green gardens certainly do her claim justice. So, to celebrate the 150th anniversary of her birth, we’ve collected fifteen gorgeous authors’ homes and estates — though none, perhaps, are as gorgeous as hers. Click through to check out our list, and let us know if we’ve missed any of your own favorite writers’ homes in the comments.
Edith Wharton’s estate, The Mount, Lenox, Massachusetts
Comments (23)
I can’t believe Joel Chandler Harris’, the Wren’s Nest wasn’t included on this list.
Where’s Anne Rice’s former home in NOLA?
Agreed, Michelle, where’s the love for Anne Rice’s gorgeous Garden District estate?
You should have put pictures of the inside of Hugo’s house in Guernsey, it’s awesome.
Anne rice has a beautiful home in or near new orleans@
The correct name for the place is MAYORCA, not majorca.. It’s a small but really beautiful island from Spain..! I you’re planning to visit Spain, try to go there!! You’ll fall in love! :P
I’m talking about RObert Graves’s House! haha
Umm Mir, there is no such place as mayorca in Spain.. That would be majorca or mallorca… Mayorca is in columbia…
Shakespeare’s house is not his house it is where he was born… He had a house a mile down the road called new place. when he was not in londo that is…
This is the worst list I have seen really. Call me crazy, but I’m not too sure that some of these authors are “well known” either…..
April Bernard was definitive on this subject: “Why I Hate Writers’ Houses” http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2011/dec/22/what-i-hate-about-writers-houses/?pagination=false
MIR, you are incorrect. It is, in fact, either Majorca or Mallorca. Never with a “Y.”
It’s Mallorca..
Gore Vidal’s home wins.
Correct name is MALLORCA but also known as Majorca by us Brits.
Pronounced Mayorca
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=71RyZuJHpj0
THIS LIST ACTUALLY CONTAIN FAMOUS AND WELL KNOWN WRITERS WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT IT IS NOT THE WORST LIST IM SURE PEOPLE ARE FULLY AWARE OF THE LIKES OF MARK TWAIN, FREDERICK DOUGLAS, GORE VIDAL, WILLIAN SHAKESPEARE, ERNEST HEMINGWAY, JK ROWLINGS, ROBERT GRAVES THERE IS THREE I DONT RECOGNIZE BUT WE ARE NOT EXPECT TO KNOW EVERYTHING THAT IS WHY WE READ WHAT WE DON’T KNOW WE RESEARCH IS LEARNING AT IS BEST BY THE WAY I CAN NOT IMAGINE A P ERSON OUTHERE WHOM IS NOT AWARE WHOM MOST OF THIS WRITERS ON THE LIST ARE.
The pictures at the below link don’t do it justice, but Dylan Thomas’s Boathouse and writing shed should be on the list. Stunning, tranquil place with beautiful views in a very cool and very odd little Welsh village.
http://www.dylanthomasboathouse.com/english/index_e.html
Tara, if you truly do not know who these authors are, I suggest you keep it to yourself else you appear as though you never graduated beyond Amelia Bedelia books. Even the most basic high school literature course will acquaint you with the non-contemporary authors. If you truly don’t know who Edith Wharton and Vladimir Nabokov are, you should.
For contrast to those mansions, here’s a photo of O. Henry’s house here in San Antonio. It’s two rooms, probably the size of a bedroom in Ms. Wharton’s estate, and at the moment rather improbably located at the edge of a parking lot: http://cache.virtualtourist.com/15/3921673-o_henry_house_San_Antonio.jpg
Anais Nin’s house, Silver Lake! LOVE! Tara, were you joking?
Seriously, this is not the definitive one-and-only ever allowed to be compiled list; instead it is one person’s post of 15 houses she feels are a.owned or connected to famous authors and b. attractive or noteworthy. If you disagree, go post your own list! Or do as Jim and Sabra did and add to the collection with your own links. Share, don’t snip.
Tara-never advertise your ignorance; repair it.
Looks like Santa Barbara.
I would add William Faulkner’s Rowan Oak in Oxford, Mississippi.
This array of famous peoples homes, is delitefull to see. Thanks so much.
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