Joaquin Miller House facts for kids
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Joaquin Miller House
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The house in 2008
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 Location in Oakland, California
Location in California
Location in the United States
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| Location | 3300 Joaquin Miller Rd., Oakland, California |
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| Area | 14 acres (5.7 ha) |
| Built | 1886 |
| Architect | Joaquin Miller |
| Architectural style | Victorian |
| NRHP reference No. | 66000204 |
Quick facts for kids Significant dates |
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| Added to NRHP | October 15, 1966 |
| Designated NHL | December 29, 1962 |
The Joaquin Miller House, also known as The Abbey and The Hights [sic], is a historic house in Joaquin Miller Park, a public park in the Oakland Hills area of Oakland, California, United States. A crude, vaguely Gothic structure, it was the home of poet Joaquin Miller from 1886 until his death in 1913. Miller was one of the nation's first poets to write about the far western United States. The property, which includes several idiosyncratic monuments created by Miller, was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1962.
Contents
Description
The Joaquin Miller House stands on the southern edge of Joaquin Miller Park, at the northwest corner of the western junction of Joaquin Miller Road with Sanborn Drive, the park's main circulating road. The house is a modest single-story structure, essentially little more than three separate rooms that have been joined together. Two of them are covered by gabled roofs, and have only vague vernacular references to Gothic Revival architecture. The third section is covered by a flat roof which has broad overhanging eaves. To this section is attached a wooden leanto of unknown function.
Joaquin Miller
Joaquin Miller, born in 1837 in Indiana, grew up in the Oregon Territory, and spent years as a young man in California during the Gold Rush years. Poorly educated, he had a gift for verse and showmanship, and he used his experiences in the far west as material for both his poetry and touring presentations. He was particularly popular in England, and is best known for his 1871 Songs of the Sierras.
In 1886 Miller purchased 100 acres (40 ha) of land, and built this house. From then until his death in 1913, he lived here, which he called "The Hights". He planted the surrounding trees and he personally built, on the eminence to the north, his own funeral pyre (not used) and monuments dedicated to Moses, explorer General John C. Frémont, and the poets Robert Browning and Elizabeth Barrett Browning. The Japanese poet Yone Noguchi began his literary career while living in the cabin adjoining Millers' during the latter half of the 1890s.
Landmark
The Hights was purchased by the city of Oakland in 1919. It was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1962. The simple Victorian style house is also listed on the National Register of Historic Places on October 15, 1966. The landmarked area is 14 acres (5.7 ha) in size, and includes the house and the various monuments erected by Miller.
Images for kids
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Joaquin Miller at his home, ca. 1898
