HOUSE MUSEUMS New adventures at Mark Twain’s house L
ast summer, The Mark Twain House and Museum in Hartford, Connecticut, was named in National Geographic’s new publication of The 10 Best of Everything, as one of the 10 best historic homes worldwide. The former home of Samuel L. Clemens (Twain’s real name), his wife Libby and their three daughters was ranked alongside the likes of Anne Frank House in Amsterdam, Claude Monet’s house at Giverny, and Leo Tolstoy’s house in Yasnaya Polyana. A few months earlier, the museum had also
received news sure to greatly boost its future: The Mark Twain Commemorative Coin Act was passed in the US Senate in April 2012 to honour the famous writer’s contribution to American literature and history. The coin is due to be minted in 2016 and the four non-profi t sites dedicated to Twain’s legacy
The National Geographic named The Mark Twain House as one of the 10 best historic homes worldwide
will receive the proceeds [around US$1.5m (£980,000, €1.1m) for each site]. The other sites are The Mark Twain Boyhood Home and Museum in Hannibal, Missouri, the Center for Mark Twain Studies at Elmira College in New York and the Mark Twain Papers & Project at the University of California. Cindy Lovell, executive director at the Hartford site, says:
“It just shows what you can achieve when you collaborate at a greater level.” Museums like the Mark Twain House get no government subsidies or grants in the US and rely entirely on fundraising, donations and revenues. Lovell says the windfall, when it comes, will go towards creating a healthy endowment for the house and museum.
Bringing Belmont back to life T
he decaying 18th century maritime villa of Belmont in Lyme Regis, UK, will be the next private house of historical importance to be restored by The Landmark Trust. As the charity nears its fundraising target of £1.8m (€2m, US$2.8m), Belmont is set to be fully renovated into a place to accommodate up to eight people for holidays and private functions.
In addition, its late 19th century observa- tory tower will be preserved as an important example of its type, while an adjacent stable block will be turned into a small museum to celebrate the lives of the house’s notable past residents: author John Fowles lived there from 1968 until his death in 2005 and
100 Attractions Handbook 2013–2014 Belmont is set to become a new Trust holiday home
completed his famous novel The French Lieu- tenant’s Woman from his study overlooking the bay. In 1769, businesswoman Eleanor Coade owned Belmont and an artifi cial stone
factory in Lambeth, where she devised a way to mass produce architectural embellish- ments more durable and cheaper than stone. Director of The Landmark Trust Anna Keay says Coade’s work made a remarkable con- tribution to the architecture of the time, and restoring the house will help tell her largely unknown story. John Fowles also wanted the house to be saved from being turned into a hotel – the inevitable fate of many large houses in tourist areas – and so he directly approached The Landmark Trust before his death with a view to fi nding a way to secure Belmont’s future. The Trust considers many factors before deciding to take on a major restoration: it must be an extraordinary place of historical importance, facing an uncertain future, in an advanced state of decay, and make a wonderful place to stay.
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