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Brick from the Hemingway Wall in Key West! Your chance to own an iconic piece of literaryhistory!From a 2005 renovation/repair to the east wall/walkway of theproperty which was discarded.Dimensions:3.50 x 4 x 9 inches
The story of the Hemingway wall is well-documented, but notabsent of controversy.
In 1937 Ernest Hemingway elected to build a wall around hishome at the corner of Whitehead and Olivia streets in Key West. The sleepy town of Key West was then beinghyped by the Depression-era WPA as a tourist destination. And the Hemingway home was listed as one ofthe must-see places to visit on tours around the island.
At the same time, Hemingway was concerned about the safetyof his family. The Lindbergh kidnappinghad just occurred in 1932. Mr. Hemingwaywas adamant that his children would always be accompanied by an adult whenleaving the property—even if it was to go down to the local ice cream parlor.
By April of 1937, the WPA had removed most of the citystreet bricks in favor of macadamizing or asphalt. This created an immense supply of suchbricks. Hemingway purchased thousands ofthe bricks at the cost of $2.00 per thousand.
But the purchase was not without controversy. A city investigation commenced into the saleof the bricks. Area WPA supervisor CurryMoreno was called to testify to the Key West city council. Moreno was cleared of any wrongdoing. Councilman Clifford Hicks claimed it was hewho was negligent in not alerting the city council when he was first apprisedof the sale.
The construction of the wall around the Hemingway home wasaccomplished by Hemingway family employee Toby Bruce. The Hemingway’s knew Toby from Piggott,Arkansas, when Bruce—who was a furniture maker—had converted a barn into livingquarters on the rural Pfeiffer property.Bruce moved to Key West and became Ernest Hemingway’s driver, confidantand assistant. The construction of thewall around the Hemingway house was entrusted to Bruce’s capable hands.
The Hemingway wall was completed by the end of 1937. C.G. Flint, author of the “Toothpick Topics,”wrote in his November 5, 1937 column:
“I was standing outside Mr. Hemingway’s, where I often gofor inspiration and to admire the palms.I was on my toes, for the new wall is a little too high to look overwith ease…”
In his May 6, 1937 column, Flint writes a poem about thewall, in part: “Oh whither you come fromwhither or whence, Be sure to observe Mr. Hemingway’s fence. Tho’ others might properly call it a ‘wall,’A ‘fence’ is less hostile and kinder withal.It is easy to see (If you noticed at all), That not even a bull couldwreck Hemingway’s wall. Being made outof brick, and exceedingly dense, There’s a bit of the fort about Hemingway’sfence…”
After the construction of the wall, tourists in 1937 couldthen, as today, still peer down into the Hemingway compound from atop the Key West lighthouse across thestreet. When the swimming pool was addedin a couple years, its turquoise-colored waters could also be seen from thelighthouse.
For a light-hearted story of the building of the wall, readthe chapter entitled “Toby’s Wall” in my Hemingway book, Papa’s BigFish—Stories of Youthful Adventure at the Hemingway’s in Key West. (The book is historical fiction about life atthe Hemingway House during the 1930s).This book, along with photographs of the wall, will come with yourpurchase!
Ernest Miller Hemingway(July 21, 1899– July 2, 1961) was an American novelist,short-story writerand journalist. Knownfor an economical, understated style that influenced later 20th-centurywriters, he has been romanticized for his adventurous lifestyle and outspoken,blunt public image. Some of his seven novels, six short-story collections andtwo non-fiction works have become classics ofAmerican literature, and he was awardedthe1954 Nobel Prize in Literature.
Hemingway was raised inOak Park, Illinois, a suburb ofChicago.After high school, he spent six months as a reporter forThe Kansas City Starbefore enlistingin theRed Cross. He served as an ambulance driver ontheItalian FrontinWorld War Iandwas seriously wounded by shrapnel in 1918. In 1921, Hemingway moved to Paris,where he worked as aforeign correspondentfor theToronto Starandwas influenced by themodernistwriters and artists of the "LostGeneration" expatriate community. His debut novel,The Sun Also Rises, was published in 1926. In1928, Hemingway returned to the U.S., where he settled inKey West,Florida. His experiences during the war supplied material for his1929 novelA Farewell to Arms.
In 1937, Hemingway went to Spain to cover theSpanish CivilWar, which formed the basis for his 1940 novelFor Whom the Bell Tolls, written inHavana, Cuba.DuringWorld War II, Hemingway was present with Alliedtroops as a journalist at theNormandylandingsand theliberation of Paris. In 1952, his novelThe Old Man and the Seawas publishedto considerable acclaim, and won thePulitzer Prize for Fiction. On a 1954 tripto Africa, Hemingway was seriously injured in two successive plane crashes,leaving him in pain and ill health for much of the rest of his life. He died bysuicide at hishouse in Ketchum, Idaho,in 1961.
