NEW YORK TIMES, June 2, 2005
Compiled by LAWRENCE VAN GELDER
Ernest Hemingway’s home in Cuba when he wrote ”For Whom the Bell Tolls” and ”The Old Man
and the Sea” was named yesterday to the list of America’s Most Endangered Historic Places,
issued by the National Trust for Historic Preservation. ”Even though it stands on foreign soil, this
house is part of the shared cultural heritage that defines us as Americans,” said Richard Moe,
president of the trust, which defines itself as a private nonprofit organization dedicated to
protecting the irreplaceable. The group announced that under a license from the United States
government it and the Hemingway Preservation Foundation have assembled a team of architects
and engineers to travel to Cuba this summer to work with Cuban counterparts on an emergency
stabilization plan for the deteriorating property, near Havana. Finca Vigia, or Lookout Farm, built
in the late 1800’s, has a trove of materials relating to the life of Hemingway, above, who lived
there from 1939 to 1960