Tor House and Hawk Tower
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Robinson Jeffers House
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Hawk Tower, Carmel-by-the-Sea, California
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| Location | 26304 Ocean View Ave., Carmel, California |
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| Coordinates | 36°32′32″N 121°56′1″W / 36.54222°N 121.93361°W |
| Area | 1.5 acres (0.61 ha) |
| Built | 1962 |
| Built by | Jeffers, Robinson |
| NRHP Reference # | 75000444 |
| Added to NRHP | October 10, 1975 |
Tor House and Hawk Tower are buildings in Carmel-by-the-Sea, California, home of poet Robinson Jeffers and family from 1919 to 1999.
The two structures, often referred to jointly as Tor House, are generally believed to have played a crucial role in the development of Robinson Jeffers as a poet, and have inspired many a visitor, for example, Stewart Brand, founder of the Whole Earth Catalog:
"Tor House is a poem-like masterpiece. It may express more direct intelligence per square inch than any other house in America."
The Jeffers family moved into Tor House in August 1919, after Robinson Jeffers had worked as an apprentice in its construction, and lived there for the remainder of their lives. Donnan Jeffers, one of the two boys of Mr. and Mrs. Jeffers, lived with his family in the neighboring east wing of the house. They remained there until Donnan and his wife Lee passed away.
Jeffers named it "Tor" House after the type of ground on which the house was situated, a granite outcrop that might have been known as a "tor" in southwest England. He described the land he chose as the site for the house as being like a "prow and plunging cutwater” of a ship. The Carmel area's influence in Robinson Jeffers' work becomes apparent in his poems such as his work “The Purse Seine,” a poem about the local fishing industry.
Jeffers' routine was to work on his poetry in the attic in the morning and to work on his building projects, such as Hawk Tower and expanding Tor House, in the afternoon.
Robinson Jeffers and his wife Una bought land at Carmel Point in Spring 1919, and in mid-May, contracted Mike Murphy, an established Carmel developer, to build them a stone cottage at Carmel Point. Murphy's stonemason began work on the house immediately, and with Jeffers signing on later as an apprentice, was able to complete the project by mid-August. Originally, the house had one bedroom, a kitchen, a living room, a bathroom, and an attic.
Soon after the cottage was complete, Jeffers himself would begin building a detached garage and a low, enclosing wall for a courtyard. He completed these in 1920, and then began to work on a tower that would take him four years to complete. After ceasing his stonework for a year or two, he then began work on a dining hall that would be completed in 1930. In 1937, Jeffers began work on an east wing that he intended to serve as a home for his boys, who were both in their 20s by then. He was unable to finish this last project due to declining health, but his son Donnan managed to complete it.
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Wikipedia