Thomas Wolfe House

Infobox_nrhp | name =Thomas Wolfe House
nrhp_type =nhl


caption =
location= 48 Spruce Street Asheville, North Carolina
lat_degrees = 35
lat_minutes = 35
lat_seconds = 51
lat_direction = N
long_degrees = 82
long_minutes = 32
long_seconds = 43
long_direction = W
locmapin = North Carolina
area =
built = 1883
architect= Unknown
architecture= Queen Anne
designated= November 11, 1971cite web|url=http://tps.cr.nps.gov/nhl/detail.cfm?ResourceId=1127&ResourceType=Building
title=Thomas Wolfe House |accessdate=2008-02-23|work=National Historic Landmark summary listing|publisher=National Park Service]
added = November 11, 1971cite web|url=http://www.nr.nps.gov/|title=National Register Information System|date=2007-01-23|work=National Register of Historic Places|publisher=National Park Service]
governing_body = Local
refnum=71000572The Thomas Wolfe House, AKA the Thomas Wolfe Memorial, is a historic house and museum located at 48 Spruce Street in Asheville, North Carolina, that was the childhood home of author Thomas Wolfe (1900-1938).

The two-story frame house was built in 1883, influenced by the Queen Anne Style of architecture.cite web |title=Thomas Wolfe Memorial: Old Kentucky Home – "Dixieland |first= |last= |work=North Carolina Historic Sites |url=http://www.nchistoricsites.org/wolfe/OldKyHome.htm |date= |accessdate=2008-09-22] 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, 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.citation|title=PDFlink| [http://pdfhost.focus.nps.gov/docs/NHLS/Text/71000572.pdf National Register of Historic Places Inventory-Nomination: Thomas Wolfe House / The Thomas Wolfe Memorial / "The Old Kentucky Home"] |32 KB|date=April 15, 1970 |author=John D. McDermott |publisher=National Park Service and PDFlink| [http://pdfhost.focus.nps.gov/docs/NHLS/Photos/71000572.pdf "Accompanying one photo, exterior, from 1970"] |32 KB]

References

External links

* [http://www.wolfememorial.com/ Thomas Wolfe Memorial – Asheville, North Carolina , Historic Site]
* [http://www.nps.gov/history/nr/travel/asheville/ Asheville, North Carolina, a National Park Service "Discover Our Shared Heritage" Travel Itinerary]