The
Audubon House in Key West, the Wolfson Restoration and
the Birds in America Folio
The
Audubon House (
formerly the Geiger House)
The story
behind the Audubon House begins with Audubon's painting
of the White Crowned Pigeon pictured below.
Above
image from Historical Museum of Southern
Florida
- Audubon images at the
Historical
Museum website were
produced from prints of an original Elephant Folio
belonging to the museum.
http://www.historical-museum.org/collect/audubon/audubon.htm)
Audubon
wrote about the plants shown on this print,
"The
Rough-leaved Cordia
This
plant, on account of its large tubular scarlet
flowers, is one of the most beautiful of the West
Indian trees. I saw only two individuals at Key west,
where we supposed, they had been introduced from Cuba.
They were about fifteen feet high, the stem having a
diameter of only five or six inches. They were in full
bloom in the early part of May, and their broad deep
green leaves, and splendid red blossoms, mingled with
the variety of plants around me, rendered their
appearance delightful. Both trees were on private
property, and grew in a yard opposite to
that of Dr. Strobel, through whose
influence I procured a large bough, from which the
drawing was made, with assistance of Mr. Lehman. I was
informed that they continue to flower nearly the whole
summer"
Historians
using Key West records have been able to document that
Strobel's neighbor was Captain Geiger.
The
cordia tree thus became part of Key's history when the
tree took on the additional name of Geiger tree. Named
after Captain John H. Geiger, who built his home on
Whitehead Street in Key West, the name "Geiger tree" is
likely of local origin inspired by Audubon's engraving of
Captain Geiger's beautiful flowering cordia tree with
white-crowned pigeons sitting in a branch. Audubon's
assistant, George Lehman painted the Geiger
tree.
The
Geiger House was purchased in 1960 and restored as a
house museum by Mitchell and Frances Wolfson. Given the
name Audubon House, it celebrates Audubon's trip to the
Keys. Visitors to the Key West have mistakenly assumed
that Audubon stayed there, but Audubon slept aboard the
revenue cutter, Marion. The restored home of Captain
Geiger along with a lovely garden and a Geiger tree may
be viewed by visiting the Audubon "Geiger" House and
Gardens on Whitehead Street in Key West. An excellent
self-guiding audio tape of the Audubon House gives a
vivid picture of Geiger's family life in the 1830s in Key
West, and the home's interior displays a number of
Audubon prints from The Birds In America.
Audubon
House Florida postcard
Audubon
House Myth
The back
of the postcard shown above which was produced by Koppel
Color Cards of Hawthorne, N.J. , mistakenly explains that
"The
Audubon House, Key West, Florida, stands today as it
stood in the 1830's, when its windows overlooked a
page unique in American history. Its owner, master
pilot John Geiger, played host to naturalist James
Audubon, who produced many of his famous bird
paintings in the upstairs study. "
Historians
are fairly certain Audubon never stayed in this house. He
never makes mention of John Geiger in his writing and he
had assured his wife he would stay aboard the Revenue
cutter, Marion, so as not to be exposed to the "night
fever" of the tropics. His writings reflect this and as
far as researchers know he slept on the Marion except for
his stay at Indian Key where he "slept in swinging
hammocks under the eaves of the piazza" of Mr.
Egan's home.
Recent
Research
Until just recently
guidebooks and local historians represented that the
Geiger house was built in 1830 and that John Audubon
visited it during his stay at Key West in 1832. Local
Keys newspapers in 2004 reported that Katia D. Hechema, a
consultant hired by the Audubon House, researched deeds,
tax rolls, and old newspaper advertisements and concluded
that the Audubon House was built after the 1846
hurricane, most likely in 1850. Her report is
supplemented by documentation by George Born an
architectural historian. Since John Audubon visited Key
West in 1832 this particular home of the Geiger family
could not have been visited by Audubon.
Historians believe that
Geiger moved to Key West sometime in the 1820s. In 1829
Gieger married Lucretia Sanders from the Bahamas. They
had twelve children. Documented records of previous
Geiger homes before the one now known as the "Audubon
House" are unclear.
Birds
of America
Mitchell
Wolfson purchased a Birds of America folio from
Duncan H. Read of Virginia in 1960, and for a time
displayed the folio in the Audubon House in Key West. The
folio was stolen, and later recovered. This same folio
was acquired from the Audubon House by the Historical
Museum of Southern Florida. The collection was moved to
Miami and placed on exhibit. Interestingly, funds from
Mr. Wolfson made this purchase by the Museum
possible.
This same
folio which had been on display at the Audubon House and
is now the property of the Historical Museum of Southern
Florida had been purchased by Duncan H. Read in 1935 and
loaned to the National Audubon Society until the Society
acquired its own copy in 1953.
To see
the original prints from the Elephant Portfolio of Birds
in America visit the Historical Museum of Southern
Florida, 101 West Flagler Street, Miami,
Florida.
For more
information on Birds Of America and the Original
Havell Prints go to Audubon
Prints.
A
good book to buy to learn about the houses of key
West.
Key
West Houses
Amazon
Reader Reviewer: keywestconch from North Central
Florida. I love this book. If you enjoy the unique
look of Key West Conch architecture you will enjoy
this book. Color full page and full page plus
photographs fill the book. Most pictures are full
close-ups of the front of the house. It is a nice
reminder of time spent in Key West. If you are
interested in architecture it contains examples of the
various unique Key West styles used. I enjoyed looking
at picture of the famous houses and reading about why
they are famous. Almost forgot it, contains the
addresses of the houses in case you want to see them
for yourself.
Go
to
Key
West Houses
for information on this book by Leslie
Linsley
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