Press Release: Watching Time Roll Back at the Harriet Beecher Stowe House

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
December 22, 2020
Media Contact: Christina Hartlieb
513-751-0651
chartlieb@stowehousecincy.org
                                                                                                                                               
Watching Time Roll Back at the Harriet Beecher Stowe House

House’s original architecture uncovered as porch, paint, and bay windows are removed
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(CINCINNATI, OH)– The big white house at the corner of Gilbert and MLK in Walnut Hills looks dramatically different right now. Restoration crews have been working steadily for several months uncovering the original style and architecture of the Harriet Beecher Stowe House. The house’s original Federal architectural style is now clear to see.

Up to 17 layers of paint have been removed from the brick home, revealing infinite details about how the house was constructed in 1832 when it was built as the president’s home for Lane Theological Seminary. The house’s memorable large front porch, which was added in the early 20th century has also been removed, uncovering outlines of the smaller portico from the mid 19th century. Restoration crews also removed large bay windows on both the first and second floors of the home, taking the house’s footprint back to the early 1800s.

According to Executive Director Christina Hartlieb, this restoration is daily revealing fascinating new information about how the house was put together and how various members of the Beecher family may have used the rooms during their nearly twenty-year residence in Cincinnati. Revealing the original façade helps the site’s visitors get an immediate sense of the Beecher’s time period in ways that had been more difficult when the history was hidden under decades of new additions.

The Harriet Beecher Stowe House remains OPEN to tours by appointment during this restoration project. 2021 book clubs, discussion groups and lectures will begin online in February.

Built in 1832, the Harriet Beecher Stowe House was originally the president’s home on the campus of Lane Theological Seminary. It is the final property remaining from the campus in Walnut Hills. Harriet Beecher Stowe, who moved to Cincinnati with her father at the age of 21, lived in Cincinnati for 18 years and went on to write the influential anti-slavery novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin, published in 1852. During the 1930s-1940s the house served as an African American boarding house and tavern listed in the Green Motorist Book.  This historic site is located at 2950 Gilbert Avenue in Cincinnati.

The Harriet Beecher Stowe House is an Ohio History Connection historic site and is managed locally by the Friends of Harriet Beecher Stowe House. For more information on the site, visit www.stowehousecincy.org or call 513-751-0651.

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ABOUT HARRIET BEECHER STOWE HOUSE
The nonprofit Friends of Harriet Beecher Stowe House manages a Cincinnati home where Harriet Beecher Stowe lived during the formative years that led her to write the best-selling novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin. This historic site is part of the Ohio History Connection’s network of more than 50 sites and museums across Ohio. For more information about programs and events, call 513-751-0651 or visit www.stowehousecincy.org.
 
Ohio History Connection
The Ohio History Connection, formerly the Ohio Historical Society, is a statewide history organization with the mission to spark discovery of Ohio’s stories. As a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization chartered in 1885, the Ohio History Connection carries out history services for Ohio and its citizens focused on preserving and sharing the state’s history. This includes housing the state historic preservation office, the official state archives, local history office and managing more than 50 sites and museums across Ohio. For more information on programs and events, visit ohiohistory.org