Built 1795 NRHP Reference # 86002467 Area 4,000 m² | Architect Richard Allen Opened 1795 Added to NRHP 22 September 1986 | |
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Location State Route 175, Brooklin, Maine Similar Speckled Mountain, St Mary's‑By‑The‑Sea, Parker Cleaveland House, Blueberry Mountain, American Eagle | ||
The E. B. White House is a historic house on Maine State Route 175 in northern Brooklin, Maine, United States. This well-preserved 18th-century farmhouse was home for many years to author E. B. White (1899-1985), and is where he wrote a number of his important works. The farm was the inspiration for one of his best-known works, Charlotte's Web. The house was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1986.
Description and history
The White House is set on the east side of SR 175, overlooking Allen's Cove at the southern end of Blue Hill Bay on Brooklin's east side. The main house is a 2-1/2 story wood frame structure, five bays wide, with end chimneys, clapboard siding, and a granite foundation. Its main entrance is centered on the west-facing front, and has a Greek Revival surround, with flanking pilasters and an entablature above. An ell extends to the rear of the house (toward the water), which is connected it to a barn via a narrow hyphen.
The house was built in about 1795 for William Holden by Captain Richard Allen, a local housewright, and is one of the oldest buildings in north Brookin. This house was purchased in 1933 by E. B. White for use as a summer residence. In 1937 White made alterations to the house so that it could be occupied year-round; the house's chimneys date from this period. White was a noted writer and essayist, writing for The New Yorker and Harper's Magazine, and producing two well-known children's books, Stuart Little and Charlotte's Web, as well as an updated edition of the The Elements of Style, a writer's guide. White was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom and a Pulitzer Prize for his work.
White was a private person, and did not advertise the location of his home while he was alive. In 1977, he convinced an interviewer to report that "he lives in 'a New England coastal town', somewhere between Nova Scotia and Cuba". The farm on this property was the inspiration for Charlotte's Web.