Built 1786 Opened 1786 Added to NRHP 21 August 1992 | NRHP Reference # 92001081 Architectural style Victorian architecture | |
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Similar Lansingburgh Historical Soc, Arrowhead, Burden Iron Works, Experimental Media and Performin, Cohoes Falls | ||
The Herman Melville House is a historic home located at Lansingburgh in Troy, Rensselaer County, New York. It was a home of author Herman Melville between 1838 and 1847.
History
The home was originally built about 1786 and substantially remodeled in the Late Victorian style about 1872. It is a 2 1⁄2-story, brick and timber frame dwelling with a gable roof. It has a 2-story rear wing.
Herman Melville and his family moved to Lansingburgh in 1838 after deaths in the family and financial concerns. Five years later, in 1843, Melville's brother Allan reflected on the house as "very pleasantly situated on the bank of the Hudson (where I am now writing). Economy was the object of this change of location, and the only one which influenced my mother to forsake the 'place of her heart,' her early companions and old friends."
The building is today preserved and maintained by the Lansingburgh Historical Society.
It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1992.