Surrounded by Victorian-style gardens and sheltered beneath arching trees, Harriet Beecher Stowe’s home (1871) illustrates the lasting popularity of the gothic-revival cottage and the influences of architects Andrew Jackson Downing and Calvert Vaux.
The house was originally constructed for Franklin and Mary Chamberlin; he was an attorney and state politician. (The Chamberlin’s later built next door, the Katharine Seymour Day House.)
The house combines architectural details like the steep hip-roof and graceful exterior trim with the balanced proportion of bay windows and porches on each side. Boasting an interior of 4500 square feet, the façade was designed to make the house appear smaller than it actually is, resulting in a welcoming effect. While smaller than other homes in Stowe’s Nook Farm neighborhood, Stowe’s house nevertheless contains 14 rooms.
