The Most Famous House in Every State
Hello, my friend, hello again; today we come together to talk about The Most Famous House in Every State and hope the blog can help you.
How many of America’s most well-known homes would you recognize by name or by sight? Test your knowledge and take a virtual tour with our list of the nation’s most famous homes.
Notable Abodes
Fame wasn’t the impetus behind the construction of America’s most eminent estates, yet it has followed them from their creation to the modern day thanks to their inimitable architecture and renowned former residents. Read on to learn which historic house is considered the most buzz-worthy in each state.
Alabama – Gaineswood
Antiquity buffs will spot all three Greek architectural orders on this former plantation home and present-day historic house museum that features a combination of fluted Doric columns, spiral-scroll-topped Ionic columns, and Corinthian pilasters that project from the walls. The now-famous home was built over the 20 years leading up to the start of the Civil War, largely by enslaved workers about whom little has been recorded (slave housing no longer stands on the estate). The house continued to serve as a private residence through the middle of the last century, when it was purchased by the state of Alabama and turned into a house museum in 1975.
Related: 20 Beautiful Homes Hiding in America’s Most Affordable Cities
Alaska – Alaska Governor's Mansion
In 1912, Walter Eli Clark became the first in a long line of governors to take up residence in the Alaska Governor’s Mansion. The original construction cost $40,000, encompassed 12,900 square feet, and housed four bedrooms and three baths. More than 100 years and $2.5 million later, the house has expanded its footprint to 14,400 square feet and now contains 10 bedrooms, six baths, and a whopping eight fireplaces to keep the residents cozy during frigid Alaska winters.
Related: 17 Log Cabins We Love
Arizona – Taliesin West
Now home to the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation and the School of Architecture at Taliesin, this awe-inspiring architectural achievement once served as the winter residence of Wright himself. Visitors familiar with the work of the acclaimed architect will recognize his affinity for nature in the rock-walled cabaret theater and sunlight-filled drafting room, where Wright famously designed New York City’s Guggenheim Museum. To help his rock-clad home blend in with the surrounding environment, Wright even went so far as to transport boulders marked with prehistoric petroglyphs from the nearby hillside to the property’s sprawling acreage.
Related: Living Remotely: 12 Stunning Homes in the Middle of Nowhere
Arkansas – Johnny Cash Boyhood Home
Believe it or not, the genre-defying country music legend behind iconic hits like “I Walk the Line” and “Ring of Fire” grew up in this humble home on a fertile 20-acre lot in Dyess, Arkansas. Now a visitor center owned by Arkansas State University, the former residence of young Johnny Cash features five rooms still filled with original Cash family furnishings. Although it may have lacked star power in 1935 when the Cash family moved in, it was a real steal for Johnny’s father, Ray, who nabbed the property for no money down.
California – Hearst Castle
This 90,000-square-foot home of newspaper tycoon William Randolph Hearst was a society hot spot in the 1920s and ’30s, thanks as much to the distinguished owner as to the lush gardens, luxe pools, sumptuous views, and private zoo. If you were lucky enough to score an invitation during the Castle’s glory days, you would have stayed in one of three Mediterranean-inspired guest houses that flank the main house, dubbed “Casa Grande.” Nowadays, you don’t need an exclusive invitation to roam the grounds—just a ticket. The estate, now a National Historic Landmark, offers tours to anyone who wishes to see the impressive structure, landscape, and resident herd of zebras up close.
Colorado – Molly Brown House
Like its former owner, who survived the sinking of the Titanic, this historic Victorian home has seen much in its 135-year history. Activist “Unsinkable” Molly Brown owned the house for 38 years, even converting it into a boardinghouse when the neighborhood declined during the Great Depression. Although the home was sold on Brown’s passing in 1932, it has since been converted into a house museum filled with exhibits detailing Brown’s life and impassioned pursuit of a better world.
Related: You’ll Never Believe What These 6 Amazing Homes Used to Be
Connecticut – Rye House
Move over, Martha’s Vineyard—the ultimate in luxury summer destinations is actually in Connecticut at the Rye House. The Tudor Revival estate built for Isabella Curtis, the widow of New York City banker Charles Curtis, plays host to an Olympic-size pool, a tennis court, and a two-story gardener’s cottage. Of course, the Curtises weren’t the only high-flyers to lay claim to the 52-acre estate. More recently, celebrities including Anderson Cooper and former Miss Connecticut Karen Kopins Shaw have called the Rye House home.
Delaware – Nemours
flickr.com via Robert Lyle Bolton
Whether you have a green thumb or a brown one, you’ll be stunned by the lush 200-acre landscape of this mega-mansion, which hosts the largest French garden in North America. Beyond the lawn, a French-inspired interior contains 77 luxe rooms, including a bowling alley, billiards room, and the chauffeur’s garage. The estate name, “Nemours,” derives from the French town of the same name, which the great-great-grandfather of the estate’s owner, industrialist Alfred I. du Pont, represented in the French Estates-General.
Florida – Ernest Hemingway Home
Some of Ernest Hemingway’s most notable works, including such novels as “To Have and Have Not” and short stories like “The Snows of Kilimanjaro,” were penned in this very house. A dream retreat for a private yet adventurous writer, the dramatic French Colonial-inspired dwelling, built in 1851, is rife with towering windows and pale green shutters for privacy as well as a wraparound balcony that affords prime views of Key West.
Related: 7 Fictional Towns You Can Visit in Real Life
Georgia – Swan House
The striking opulence of this Classical-meets-Renaissance-Revival estate, now a historic house museum in Atlanta, earned it a role in Hollywood hits from “The Hunger Games” to “Little Darlings.” As if the sumptuous terraced garden and cascading fountain weren’t enough to inspire a visit to the famed 89-year-old residence, formerly home to cotton tycoons Edward and Emily Inman, swan sculptures and swan-themed decor scattered in and outside the property augment its beauty and inspired the home’s memorable name.
Related: What 11 Ordinary People Paid to Live in Your Favorite Movie Homes
Hawaii – Shangri La House (Doris Duke)
Wikimedia Commons via Daderot
Doris Duke’s travels throughout the Islamic world led her to design a mansion complete with Moroccan painted ceilings, an Indian Mughal-inspired garden, and a playhouse resembling a miniature version of an Iranian palace. Now owned by the Doris Duke Foundation for Islamic Art, the 4.9-acre estate offers public tours of the grounds and rooms, which are filled with more than 2,500 artifacts collected by Duke over a period of 60 years.
Idaho – The Standrod Mansion
Judge Standrod took a risk by delegating the construction of his new home to lesser-known architect Marcus Grundfor. But the gamble clearly paid off, as today the Standrod Mansion has become an enduring part of Idaho’s landscape and history. The Chateauesque estate incorporates a steeply pitched roof, ornate cresting, leaded glass windows, and a prominent “S” proudly stamped over the main entrance of the home.
Related: 18 American Towns Every Old-House Lover Needs to See
Illinois – Farnsworth House
Wikimedia Commons via Farnsworth House
German-American architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, a winner of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, designed this barely there building as a country estate for Dr. Edith Farnsworth. The sleek one-room abode with tip-to-toe glass walls was born of the International Style architectural movement, which emphasized planar surfaces, open spaces, and cantilevered structures of glass and steel.
Indiana – Morris-Butler House
A classic example of Second Empire architecture, the red brick exterior of the Morris-Butler House is topped with a mansard roof and enclosed by a stately fence. The two-story-plus-attic dwelling has a varied past, having served as the house of businessman John D. Morris, lawyer Noble Butler, an art studio, an art gallery, and an apartment building. It’s now open for special events and programs, and is available for rental for weddings and other celebrations.
Iowa – American Gothic House
If the board-and-batten facade and prominent clerestory window on this little white cottage look familiar, it’s because the Carpenter Gothic dwelling served as the backdrop to Grant Wood’s famous painting “American Gothic.” Impressively, Wood captured the home in exquisite detail after visiting it only twice. Humble in size though it may be, the 546-square-foot home managed to squeeze in all eight of builder Charles Dibble’s family members, with room to spare for himself and his wife.
Kansas – Amelia Earhart House Museum
The first female pilot to fly across the Atlantic was welcomed into the world in this house in Atchison, Kansas, which once belonged to Amelia Earhart’s grandfather. The Gothic Revival-style wood-framed residence, now the Amelia Earhart Birthplace Museum, is maintained by the Ninety-Nines, an organization of female aviators of which Earhart was not only a member, but also the first president.
Related: The 18 Best Tiny Houses on Wheels
Kentucky – Conrad-Caldwell House Museum
