Ernest Hemingway House

Listen for a moment before you look around. Palm fronds rattle overhead. Somewhere a rooster calls from a neighbour's yard. Then, close to your feet, a soft thud as a cat drops from a garden wall. The air here is warm and heavy with salt, and the ground under the trees stays cool and shaded. You are standing in the garden of the house where Ernest Hemingway lived and wrote through much of the 1930s.

Before the famous writer, there was a builder. The house was built in the mid nineteenth century by Asa Tift, a marine architect and salvage wrecker. Wrecking was a serious trade in Key West at that time. Ships ran aground on the reefs offshore, and local crews raced out to rescue cargo and crew. That business made some islanders very wealthy, and this house is one result of that money.

Look closely at the walls. The house is built of limestone, and the stone was cut from the island itself, right here on the property. That gave the building thick, solid walls that hold up well against storms. The style is often described as Spanish Colonial. Notice the tall windows, the shutters, and the wide balconies with their iron railings. In a hot climate before air conditioning, all of these features had one job — moving air through the rooms.

Hemingway first came to Key West in 1928. He arrived with his second wife, Pauline Pfeiffer, a journalist who had worked for fashion magazines in Paris. At first they rented places in town. Then, in 1931, they settled here. The purchase was made possible by Pauline's uncle, Gus Pfeiffer, who gave the couple the money for the house. By then it needed a great deal of repair, and the couple spent years restoring it.

Walk through the rooms and you will see how the house became a family home. Pauline took charge of the interior. She brought in furniture and decorative pieces, some from Europe, and she is credited with hanging chandeliers in place of the ceiling fans. That choice surprises many visitors, because chandeliers in a tropical house meant a warmer room. It tells you something about her taste. Comfort mattered, but so did style.

Now look toward the building behind the main house. Hemingway did his writing on the upper floor of the old carriage house, in a studio set apart from the family. He worked in the mornings, usually early, before the day grew too hot. In the afternoons he went fishing, often out in the Gulf Stream, or he spent time with friends in town. The studio was his quiet place, and its separation from the house was deliberate.

The Key West years were productive ones for him. Much of his writing from the 1930s took shape on this island. That includes the nonfiction books Death in the Afternoon, about bullfighting, and Green Hills of Africa, about a safari. It also includes the novel To Have and Have Not, which is set in Key West itself. The short story The Snows of Kilimanjaro also dates from this period. Many readers see this decade as a turning point in his career.

Next, find the swimming pool. It is often described as the first in-ground pool in Key West, and it was a very costly project for its time. There is a popular story about it. Legend has it that Hemingway was shocked by the final bill. He supposedly pressed a penny into the wet cement and said the pool had taken his last cent. Whether or not he really said it, look for that coin when you reach the pool.

And now, the residents you have probably already met. The cats. Dozens of them live on the property, and many have six toes on their front paws. Cats like this are called polydactyl. According to the house's own tradition, Hemingway received a six-toed white cat from a sea captain, and many of today's cats descend from it. Sailors once valued these cats on ships, perhaps for their good balance and their skill at catching rats.

The cats here are named after famous people, which follows a habit Hemingway had with his own pets. Keep an eye out for one more strange detail. Locals say that a large ceramic urinal in the garden came from Sloppy Joe's, the bar Hemingway loved in town. As the story goes, he carried it home and Pauline turned it into a water fountain. Today the cats use it as a drinking bowl.

Hemingway's time here ended with his marriage. By the end of the 1930s he had left Key West and Pauline, and he married again in 1940. Pauline stayed on in the house with their sons. She lived here until her death in 1951. After that the property sat in the family's hands for some years. In the early 1960s it was sold, and soon afterwards it opened to the public as a museum.

Step back and look past the garden toward the street. The tall white and black tower nearby is the Key West Lighthouse. Hemingway's friends liked to joke that he could find his way home from the bars by following its light. You may also notice the brick wall that wraps around the property. It gave the family privacy, because even in the 1930s curious visitors came to see where the famous author lived.

Before you leave, stand for a moment in the shade of the garden. Look up at the balconies and the green shutters. Listen again for the palms, the roosters, and the soft steps of cats moving through the plants. As you walk back out to the street, notice the quiet behind the wall, and how quickly the sounds of town return.