Hemingway's Childhood Home For Sale In Oak Park
OAK PARK, Ill. (STMW) -- The boyhood home of Ernest Hemingway in west suburban Oak Park is on the market for $525,000.
The Clarence and Grace Hemingway home, 600 N. Kenilworth, is currently owned by the Ernest Hemingway Foundation, which bought the house from a private owner in 2002.
The foundation had the idea of turning the home back to its original glory and using it for foundation events but later decided against it, said Steve Scheuring, the real estate agent who is listing the property.
The home was designed by architect Henry G. Fiddelke, in collaboration with Hemingway's mother, Grace Hall Hemingway. The Hemingway family moved to the house in 1906, and apparently it was there that Hemingway recovered from his war wounds and the romantic misfortune he later wrote about in his semi-autobiographical novel, "A Farewell to Arms."
"The building was built originally as a glorious home for entertaining," Scheuring said. "Ernest's mother was really the one that took charge in assisting the design of the home. It once had a music room off the north side and she held music events in the home while the front two rooms off the entry foyer were his father's physician offices."
The house is now divided into three apartments, yet the main floor living room is still the original size and is beautiful, Scheuring said.
Scheuring said the home could be kept as is or converted back to a single-family home. Either way, the foundation is looking for a buyer who will appreciate the home's "historic and literary value" and treat the property accordingly.
"It really could be an amazing home," Scheuring said.
(Source: Sun-Times Media Wire © Chicago Sun-Times 2012. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
