“In Easy Grace and Serenity of Life”: A Peek Inside the Harlan Hubbard House

By Mary Casey-Sturk

Harlan Hubbard (1900–1988) will always be connected to Fort Thomas and remembered for his art, travels, and writing. Bellevue-born Hubbard studied in New York City and later at the Art Academy of Cincinnati. He settled in Fort Thomas in 1919, where he built a house for his mother and himself, a rental house and a building used as his studio. The studio later served as a home to Harlan and his wife Anna after their marriage. 

The studio is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and in cooperation with the Fort Thomas Forest Conservancy (FTFC), which manages it, there are periodic programs open to the public. 

The House Today

In September 2023, the house was purchased by Pam Houston. I was fortunate enough to get a tour of the house and learned more about the history of the home.

Houston shared with me her favorite spots around the house, some restoration finds, and her love of nature, which she can indulge in on the one-acre lot. During our conversation, we viewed two hawks flying above, “residents”, according to Houston.  

A highlight in the house is the massive stone fireplace in the living room, which was hand-built by Hubbard. It not only highlights his masonry skills but adds a touch of whimsy with his use of a horseshoe to hold fireplace tools. 

Houston shared that the hardwood floors upstairs and downstairs were refinished and are in remarkably good shape. In an upstairs bedroom that Harlan had used as a studio, the floors had been painted white. It is believed the house was originally white as well.

In the dining room, a drop ceiling was removed to show off the wood-beamed ceiling below. Houston also pointed out a pillar stone on the front porch featuring an “H” for Hubbard and “19” and “23” for the year the house was built. 

I asked Pam if the history of the home influenced her purchase? Houston replied, “At first, the intrigue of the old Studio as well as the one acre of land were most appealing. Now that I’m much more immersed in Harlan and Anna’s story, the cottage-sized home has captured not only my attention but my efforts in its restoration and upkeep.” Houston continues, “I purchased the home in 2023 from Bill Thomas’ widow. We have a mutual artist friend who told me about the home and Hubbard studio. By this time, I’d already read a few books on Harlan, including the biography by Wendell Berry, a much-loved author of mine. I was intrigued and very interested in the fact that the home sat on one acre of land, not easy to find here in Fort Thomas. I’m now looking to partner with a local architect and builder to add a small extension onto the back of the home, focusing on the view of the studio and forest.”

Is Houston a fan of Hubbard’s work? “Harlan was incredibly prolific. An artist for life, he strove to draw, paint or write nearly each day, amounting to thousands of visual works. I’m most impressed with that fact and, of course, charmed by the simplicity of his woodcuts” states Houston.

Houston herself is an artist, “I’m a life-long entrepreneur and designer. Presently, my working studio is in the Pendleton Art Center in OTR. I’m best defined as a multi-disciplined professional centered in creative direction, fabric & graphic design, branding & strategy, interior decorating, as well as print manufacturing and several other artistic directions.”

What do you want the community to know about Harlan and Anna’s legacy?

“Encouraging others to learn about the Hubbards’ legacy allows a visitor to discover and incorporate what inspires them into their own lives,” remarked Houston. “To quote Paul Hassfurder, ‘Anna and Harlan Hubbard’s lives and the art, literature and music from and about their lives have encouraged and inspired many people. No one can repeat their life and times, but we can learn from them about the inner rewards of a life of order and iscipline: An easy grace and serenity of life. *’”

Houston adds as the caretaker, “I’ve chosen to be part of the committee (within the FTFC) that hosts and presents the programming connected to Harlan’s historic art studio on the back of this property.”

While Hubbard may not recognize the current décor and upgrades, the heart of the home remains the same. Houston shared, “My favorite place within the home is the quaint main room where the fireplace is the home’s most notable point of interest. Harlan built it with stacked stone and a wood mantel he cut. The chase is also viewable within the bedroom above. I designed the home’s only bathroom refurbishment the first year I moved in. For 101 years, previous owners could only take a bath in the old tub. I added a much-needed shower! The small home office was formerly an open side porch where Harlan used to sleep, no matter the season.” 

On modernizing, Houston notes, “Needless to say, it now has solid walls, windows and heat and air conditioning. Sitting around the fire pit with a view of the woods and old studio is my absolute favorite place to be. It feels special, tucked into this small plot of land right in the middle of Fort Thomas. In the winter, you can see the top of the Great American Tower across the river.”

A home with a view, and a history.

*https://www.harlanhubbard.com/Legacy/today.html

Studio Dates 2026: September 19 and October 17. 10 a.m.-1 p.m.

More House History:

Author Jessica K. Whitehead released her book, Driftwood: The Life of Harlan Hubbard in 2025. She also curated an exhibition of Hubbard’s work that was seen locally at the Berhinger-Crawford Museum and exhibited at other museums as well. 

In her book, she not only goes into details of Harlan Hubbard’s life and artistic legacy, but she researched the roots of this home. Here are some interesting facts about the house that she shared in the book.

Even though Harlan was building this house for his mother, she spent the majority of the construction period living with Harlan’s brother, Louis, in Beverly Hills (California), where he worked as a writer/producer in Hollywood (Driftwood, 103).

Harlan hired a few laborers to help him with the project and managed them throughout the construction. The ledger (held in the University of Louisville archives), details the costs of labor and materials for the house, as well as construction timeline (Driftwood, 104-106).

The lumber that created the basic skeleton for the house’s framing came from Grimm’s sawmill, located along the riverbank at Brent, where Harlan and Anna would later build their shantyboat (Driftwood, 105-106).

All of the interior millwork was provided by Harlan’s friend, Cornelius “Neely” Willison, who operated a small woodworking company in Brent. The Brent Frame, Door and Sash Company would also be home to Harlan’s first real painting studio in 1927. Harlan would learn many of his woodworking skills from Neely (Driftwood, 111).

Even after the house was built, Harlan often refused to sleep inside the house, preferring to sleep outdoors on the front porch (Driftwood, 111).

On and off in his painting career (pre-1944), Harlan used the upstairs bedroom in 129 Highland Avenue as a studio. He added a skylight for better light in the 1930s.

Harlan used the basement in 129 Highland Avenue to paint all of his (PWAP*) commissions, including the pieces of Masonite that would eventually be installed as his Spirit of Covington mural at the Carnegie in Covington. These were significant pieces in his career and marked a turning point for him. It’s a big deal that these works were created in this home. The Public Works of Art Project (PWAP) was the first federal relief program for artists and part of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal (Driftwood, 155-159).

Harlan’s design for the brick studio, built in 1938, was deeply inspired by the German vernacular architecture of the surrounding countryside. Many of the design features for the studio can be seen translated into Harlan’s later constructions at Payne Hollow (Driftwood 176-178). In fact, the brick studio was the first home that Harlan and his wife, Anna, shared together. Living in those cramped quarters prepared them for their time spent aboard their hand-built shantyboat (Driftwood, 2010).

Harlan and Anna’s long-term tenants of 129 Highland Avenue, during the duration of the shantyboat adventure, was the McTamney family. Mia McTamney, later Mia Cunningham, forged a close friendship with Anna as a girl, and Mia would later become Anna’s first biographer, with Out of the Shadows (Driftwood, 218).