Under the oversight of the National Park Service is the Andrew Johnson National Historic Site. In addition to his final house shown here, the National Historic Site also covers his Early home, his gravesite, and the visitors center which includes his tailor shop.
The Andrew Johnson Homestead is maintained to look as it did when he and his wife lived in the domicile from 1869 to 1875. Johnson had purchased the home in 1851. During the war years, the house was occupied by soldiers. It required renovations when the family returned to the house after Johnson's leaving the presidency in 1869. It is a Greek Revival two-story brick house.
The 1851-75 residence, built not long before Johnson purchased it, stayed in the possession of his heirs until 1942, the year the Federal Government acquired it. It had undergone considerable alteration throughout the years, including an extensive remodeling in the Victorian style in 1884-85. The National Park Service has restored and refurnished it to its 1869-75 appearance. It now consists, as it did then, of a two-story, brick main house and a two-story, brick ell at the rear.
The brickwork is Flemish bond on the front and common bond on the sides. A double veranda extends along the rear of the main section and the northeast side and end of the ell; the exposed basement level gives the effect of three stories on this side. The front of the house sits flush on the street. The structure contains 10 rooms: kitchen and storeroom (also servants' quarters) in the basement; parlor, dining room, and two bedrooms on the first floor, one of which rooms was possibly the original kitchen; and four bedrooms on the second. The rooms of the main block on the first and second floors are divided into pairs by central halls. Each floor of the ell contains two rooms, one behind the other and separated by a chimney wall; these rooms open onto the porches.
No comments:
Post a Comment