Albert Einstein House
The Albert Einstein House in Princeton, New Jersey, is a simple two story, "L" shaped, frame building with a gabled roof over the front block and a flat roof on the "L." The house has both front and rear entrances. The front elevation is characterized by a cornice with small guttae blocks; a frieze with small dentils; five windows; a columned full length porch, which may be a later addition; and fluted moulding around the front entrance. A small bay on the right side provides light to the staircase. The "L" contains four bays on the front and eight on the right side. At the back of the house is a screened porch.
The date of construction and the builder of the Albert Einstein House are unknown. The structure was probably built in the 1870's or 1880's. The house is a simple pattern-book cottage and in itself is of no particular architectural significance. When Albert Einstein first came to Princeton in 1933, he lived at 2 Library Place. In 1936 he purchased 112 Mercer Street. The house remained his home until his death in 1955. 112 Mercer Street was an integral part of Einstein*s work in the United States. One biographer reports, "...his room at the Institute (for Advanced Studies) or his study in Mercer Street was his natural habitat.
It was here that he could best carry on his main work and continue his stubborn rearguard battle against the new movements in physics which he had started nearly a third of a century before."! Since 1955 Einstein's stepdaughter Margot has owned the house. Today she and Einstein's secretary of 25 years, Helen Dukas, live in the house.
The Albert Einstein House underwent no interior or exterior alterations or changes since Einstein lived there.In April 1955 as Einstein lay in the hospital shortly before he died, he is reported to have said to his daughter, "Do not let the house become a museum." According to Helen Dukas the family respects this wish and is not interested in official recognition of the property as the house of Albert Einstein.
