| “The little house in the lowly street with the lovely name,” is how American author, Poet and critic Edgar Allan Poe described the two-bay, two-and-a-half story brick building where he resided from 1833 to 1835. Poe was born in Boston in 1809, but both his parents died while he was an infant, so John Allan, a Scottish merchant residing in Virginia, raised him first in Britain and later in Richmond. Poe joined the military, distinguishing himself, but was dismissed from West Point early in 1831. Poe lived at 203 Amity Street with his paternal grandmother, his aunt, Maria Clemn, and her daughter, Virginia, whom he later married. It was while living on Amity Street that Poe’s prose tales began to attract attention, and in 1835 he moved back to Richmond to join the staff of the Southern Literary Messenger. Poe created the detective story genre, and his fantastic Poetry and literature profoundly influenced later writers such as Fyodor Dostoyevsky, the French Poet Charles-Pierre Baudelaire, who revived critical interest in his works,and H.P. Lovecraft and T. S. Eliot.The house, a National Historic Landmark, was built in the early 19th century, and functioned as a private residence until 1939 when it was acquired by the City of Baltimore. The city then leased it to the Edgar Allan Poe Society of Baltimore, which began operating the house as a museum in 1949.
The Edgar Allan Poe House is located at 203 Amity St. It is open to the public Wednesday-Saturday, 12:00pm to 3:45pm. For more information call 410-396-7932 or visit their website. |
Edgar Allen Poe House and close-up Color photos by Jeff Joeckel, National Register of Historic Places Edgar Allen Poe (1809-1849) was the creator of the American gothic tale and detective fiction genre, and was a noted Poet and critic. Edgar Allan Poe photo by by W.S. Hartshorn . Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division [#: 91796062] |