The Audubon House & Tropical Gardens is located at 205 Whitehead Street,

Key West, Florida Key West is an island in the Straits of Florida, at the southern end of the U.S. state of Florida. Together with all or parts of the separate islands of Sigsbee Park, Dredgers Key, Fleming Key, Sunset Key, and the northern part of Stock Islan ...

. Brick-pathed gardens offer a lush view of

orchid Orchids are plants that belong to the family Orchidaceae (), a diverse and widespread group of flowering plants with blooms that are often colourful and fragrant. Orchids are cosmopolitan plants that are found in almost every habitat on Eart ...

bromeliad The Bromeliaceae (the bromeliads) are a Family (biology), family of monocot flowering plants of about 80 genera and 3700 known species, native mainly to the Tropics, tropical Americas, with several species found in the American subtropics and on ...

s, and other tropical foliage, an herb garden and 1840-style nursery. The house has many

antique An antique () is an item perceived as having value because of its aesthetic or historical significance, and often defined as at least 100 years old (or some other limit), although the term is often used loosely to describe any object that i ...

furnishings purchased from estate sales and auctions in

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

. The house contains 28 first-edition works of the famous

ornithologist Ornithology, from Ancient Greek ὄρνις (''órnis''), meaning "bird", and -logy from λόγος (''lógos''), meaning "study", is a branch of zoology dedicated to the study of birds. Several aspects of ornithology differ from related discip ...

John James Audubon John James Audubon (born Jean-Jacques Rabin, April 26, 1785 – January 27, 1851) was a French-American Autodidacticism, self-trained artist, natural history, naturalist, and ornithology, ornithologist. His combined interests in art and ornitho ...

. Audubon visited the Florida Keys and Dry Tortugas in 1832 and left Key West having sighted and drawn 18 new birds for his "Birds of America" folio. It is believed that many of those drawings were conceived in the Audubon House garden. Also, Audubon's painting of the white-crowned pigeon features the Geiger tree found in the front yard of the house. The Audubon House Gallery, separate from the main house features a unique collection of 19th century original Audubon art and a comprehensive selection of John James Audubon's images.

History

The house was slated for

demolition Demolition (also known as razing and wrecking) is the science and engineering in safely and efficiently tearing down buildings and other artificial structures. Demolition contrasts with deconstruction (building), deconstruction, which inv ...

in 1958, but was saved by the Mitchell Wolfson Family Foundation, a nonprofit educational institution. This was the first restoration project in Key West.Audubon House Official Site
The Audubon House Museum & Tropical Gardens was established in 1960 by Key West native, Colonel Mitchell Wolfson and his wife Frances. They invested $250,000, with celebrated architect and developer Alfred Milton Evans and his sons Harry, John, Alfred Evans who restored the Audubon house using building techniques of their father Sidney Evans, a known big ship builder. The Evanses' 2-3 story estate houses dot the Key West landscape and can be recognized by their customary circular wooden accents and grand multi-poled verandas. Alfred Evans used a special shipbuilding technique of gradually bending the wood for circular archways and stairways. Most of Key West's landmark homes were built by The Evanses, who lived in a grand 3-story home on 716 Olivia in Old Key West, a few doors from Ernest Hemingway's home, whose book Old Man in the Sea was inspired by his experiences in Key West and the Evans family. The Evanes restored the three level Captain's home, which was built in the American Classic Revival architectural style of the mid-1800s. The home was originally built by Captain John Huling Geiger, who was Key West's first harbor pilot. Captain Geiger raised many children in the house, and planted beautiful tropical vegetation on the property. It was the beautiful plants which drew Audubon to it during his visit in 1832. Audubon took cuttings from the plants growing on the property, and used them as backgrounds in many works, including the White crowned Pigeon, which has the "Geiger tree" in the background. This was the first restoration project in Key West and is still considered the gem of the island's restoration movement. Antique enthusiasts who tour the house appreciate the unique quality of the furnishings, which were typically found in a prosperous Key West home in the 1800s. File:Key West FH010012.jpg, The house image:Key West FH010011.jpg, The nearby gallery image:Key West FH010013.jpg, The dining room on the first floor image:Key West FH010014.jpg, A fly trap image:Key West FH010015.jpg, A wine cooler image:Key West FH010016.jpg image:Key West FH010017.jpg image:Key West FH010018.jpg, A Geiger tree

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Audubon House And Tropical Gardens Landmarks in Key West, Florida History of Key West, Florida Houses in Key West, Florida Museums in Key West, Florida Historic house museums in Florida Art museums and galleries in Florida Biographical museums in Florida House and Tropical Gardens