The Clemens family moved into the home in 1874 after its completion.
The top floor was the billiards room and his private study where he would write late at night; the room was strictly off limits to all but the cleaning staff.
It was also used for entertaining male guests with cigars and liquor.
Twain had said, "There ought to be a room in this house to swear in.
It's dangerous to have to repress an emotion like that."

The children had their own area with a nursery and a playroom/classroom.
Mrs. Clemens tutored her daughters in the large school room on the second floor.
Clemens played with his children in the conservatory, pretending to be an elephant in an imaginary safari.
He noted that the house "was of us, and we were in its confidence and lived in its grace and in the peace of its benediction."

Clemens enjoyed living in the house, partly because he knew many different authors from his Hartford neighborhood, such as Harriet Beecher Stowe who lived next door and Isabella Beecher Hooker.
He also hosted several authors as guests, including Thomas Bailey Aldrich, George Washington Cable, and William Dean Howells, as well as actors Henry Irving, Lawrence Barrett, and Edwin Booth.

Clemens worked on many of his most notable books in this home, including The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876) and Life on the Mississippi (1883).
The success of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer inspired him to renovate the house, and he had Louis Comfort Tiffany supervise the interior decoration in 1881.
He also was fascinated with new technologies, leading to the installation of an early telephone.

Clemens invested heavily in the typesetting machine invented by James W. Paige.
He also formed the firm Charles L. Webster & Company which published his writings, along with Ulysses S. Grant's memoirs.
Its first publication was Adventures of Huckleberry Finn in 1884.
The company went bankrupt in 1894, leaving Twain with a large amount of debt; Paige's typesetting machine never functioned properly and was overcome by competition from the linotype machine developed by Whitelaw Reid.
The losses from these investments as well as several bank panics led the Clemens family to move to Europe in 1891 where the cost of living was more affordable.
He began lecturing across the continent to recoup some money for their family.
Unable to afford living in the house, Twain rented it out, returning only once in 1895. ‘’
As soon as I entered this front door I was seized with a furious desire to have us all in this house again & right away,’’ he wrote, ‘’& never go outside the grounds any more forever. . .
It is the loveliest home that ever was.”
The Clemens family moved into the home in 1874 after its completion. The top floor was the billiards room and his private study where he would write late at night; the room was strictly off limits to all but the cleaning staff. It was also used for entertaining male guests with cigars and liquor. Twain had said, "There ought to be a room in this house to swear in. It's dangerous to have to repress an emotion like that."
The children had their own area with a nursery and a playroom/classroom. Mrs. Clemens tutored her daughters in the large school room on the second floor. Clemens played with his children in the conservatory, pretending to be an elephant in an imaginary safari. He noted that the house "was of us, and we were in its confidence and lived in its grace and in the peace of its benediction."
Clemens enjoyed living in the house, partly because he knew many different authors from his Hartford neighborhood, such as Harriet Beecher Stowe who lived next door and Isabella Beecher Hooker. He also hosted several authors as guests, including Thomas Bailey Aldrich, George Washington Cable, and William Dean Howells, as well as actors Henry Irving, Lawrence Barrett, and Edwin Booth.
Clemens worked on many of his most notable books in this home, including The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876) and Life on the Mississippi (1883). The success of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer inspired him to renovate the house, and he had Louis Comfort Tiffany supervise the interior decoration in 1881. He also was fascinated with new technologies, leading to the installation of an early telephone.
Clemens invested heavily in the typesetting machine invented by James W. Paige. He also formed the firm Charles L. Webster & Company which published his writings, along with Ulysses S. Grant's memoirs. Its first publication was Adventures of Huckleberry Finn in 1884. The company went bankrupt in 1894, leaving Twain with a large amount of debt; Paige's typesetting machine never functioned properly and was overcome by competition from the linotype machine developed by Whitelaw Reid. The losses from these investments as well as several bank panics led the Clemens family to move to Europe in 1891 where the cost of living was more affordable. He began lecturing across the continent to recoup some money for their family. Unable to afford living in the house, Twain rented it out, returning only once in 1895. ‘’As soon as I entered this front door I was seized with a furious desire to have us all in this house again & right away,’’ he wrote, ‘’& never go outside the grounds any more forever. . . It is the loveliest home that ever was.”
Mark Twain House