Theodore Roosevelt Birthplace National Historic Site

 museum, NRHP - National Register of Historic Places, interesting place, historic landmark, 1923_construction

Operated by the National Park Service, the Theodore Roosevelt Birthplace museum is located on the site of the original house. Five rooms have been reconstructed and restored to the period of 1865 and can only be seen in guided tours conducted hourly (10AM-4PM) led by park rangers. The tour last about 30 minutes and is limited to 15 persons. The ground floor has a gallery containing memorabilia from his life. There is no entry fee. The original building was demolished in 1916, but the lot was purchased and the house rebuilt in 1919-1923 by the Women's Roosevelt Memorial Association to the designs of Theodate Pope Riddle, who was most famous for the designs of Avon Old Farms School in Avon, CT.

Faced with brownstone, the facade is treated in two sections--the eastern house-museum portion recreating the original appearance of the Roosevelt house; the western library wing treated in a modern style, popular for 1920s brownstone renovations. Set back a few inches from the building line, the library wing is designed to harmonize with but be subordinate to the house.

The reconstructed Theodore Roosevelt house is treated as a 3-bay wide Gothic-Revival style dwelling of three floor with a basement and mansard roof. On the first story there are a pair of paneled doors and full-length windows that open onto an iron balcony. All the windows and the doorway are square-headed and are embellished with drip moldings, a hallmark of the Gothic-Revival style. The molded roof cornice is carried on a continuous series of small arches, another Gothic-Revival touch. The shingled mansard has three square-headed dormers. Louvred shutters are used on the three main floors and a large flagpole with an American eagle base projects from the 2nd floor.

The library wing to the west is treated as a 4-story building with a raised basement. It shares a common watertable and roof line with the Theodore Roosevelt house, but its windows do not align with those of the house and are arranged in two bays flanking a central chimney. Brownstone wing-walls were added at each end of the Roosevelt Memorial where the adjoining buildings project forward, helping to set off the Memorial.

www.nps.gov/thrb/index.htm