Ernest Hemingway House
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Ernest Hemingway House
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Hemingway House in Key West, Florida
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| Location | 907 Whitehead Street Key West, Florida  United States
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| Coordinates | 24°33′4″N 81°48′3″W / 24.55111°N 81.80083°WCoordinates: 24°33′4″N 81°48′3″W / 24.55111°N 81.80083°W |
| Built | 1851 |
| NRHP Reference # | 68000023 |
| Significant dates | |
| Added to NRHP | November 24, 1968 |
| Designated NHL | November 24, 1968 |
The Ernest Hemingway House, officially known as the Ernest Hemingway Home & Museum, was the residence of author Ernest Hemingway in Key West, Florida, United States. It is located at 907 Whitehead Street, across from the Key West lighthouse, close to the Southern coast of the island. On November 24, 1968, it was designated a U.S. National Historic Landmark.
This was Hemingway's home from 1931 to 1939, although he retained title to the home until he died. It is a private, for-profit landmark and tourist attraction now populated by six- and seven-toed cats that are descendants of Hemingway's cats. The author's second son, Patrick, who lived in the house, stated in a 1994 interview in the Miami Herald's "Tropic" that his father had peacocks in Key West and that he owned cats in Cuba. However, a photo on display at the Hemingway Home in Key West shows Patrick and his younger brother, Gregory, in front of the Cuban water jar near the swimming pool, and Gregory is holding a white cat named Snow White. In addition to the photo showing Patrick and Gregory with Snow White, Hemingway's wife, Pauline, wrote the following in a January 22, 1937, letter to Hemingway (who was staying at the Barclay's Hotel in New York City): "Snow White has become his (G's) fox fur that walks. Esther is having the same old cat looing troubles, with discussed alternatives of 1) getting little female, 2) letting him out and NOT worrying, which turns into letting him out and worrying, 3) castrating, 4) putting ad in paper asking for return of brown, blue-eyed cat with reward."
Descendants of Hemingway's original cats continue to live on the premises. In 2009, the cats became the subject of federal litigation after a museum visitor expressed concern about the cats' welfare. United States Department of Agriculture investigators visited the museum and subsequently ordered the museum to take measures to tag the cats for identification and to shelter them. The museum fought the regulations in court but lost their case in the court of appeals, which ruled that the cats "substantially affect" interstate commerce and thus are protected by the Animal Welfare Act of 1966. The house does not sell cats but does continue a selective breeding program for them.
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