Key West, Florida -- Ernest Hemingway's Key West home, where the American author resided from 1931 to 1939, was designated a Literary Landmark during a celebration Sunday afternoon on the grounds of the Spanish-Colonial home at 907 Whitehead Street.
Hemingway, who lived in the house with his second wife Pauline and their two sons, owned the property until his death in 1961. It became a museum honoring the Pulitzer and Nobel prize-winning author in 1964.
During his Key West residence, Hemingway worked on many of his best-known manuscripts in the property's second-story writing studio.
"Hemingway was probably our first and most popular writer to take residence in Key West," said Dave Gonzales of the Ernest Hemingway Home & Museum. "He lived here only nine years, but wrote 70 percent of his lifetime works in that nine-year period -- the most prolific period of his life."
Among them were "For Whom the Bell Tolls," "The Snows of Kilimanjaro" and the Key West-based "To Have and Have Not," Hemingway's only novel with an American setting.
"This is a recognition long overdue," said author Les Standiford, director of Florida International University’s creative writing program. "There are a number of other literary landmarks in Key West, but none dedicated to Hemingway."
Literary landmark designation is conferred by a division of the American Library Association. The Hemingway home is Key West's eighth literary landmark, joining sites including the former homes of playwright Tennessee Williams and poet Elizabeth Bishop.
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