The Lewis Miller Cottage is a historic house at Whitfield and Vincent Avenues, on the grounds of the Chautauqua Institute in Chautauqua, New York. Built in 1875, it was the residence of Lewis Miller, co-founder of the Chautauqua movement.[4] It was designated a National Historic Landmark on December 21, 1965.[2]
The Lewis Miller Cottage stands in the village of Chautauqua, at the northwest corner of Vincent and Whitfield Avenues. It is a two-story wood-frame structure, with a broad gabled roof showing Stick style woodwork and large supporting brackets. It has a symmetrical front facade, with sash windows flanking the center entrance on the ground floor, and paired sash windows on the second floor, flanking a center doorway that provides access to the second-story balcony. The first-floor porch and second-floor balcony both have gingerbread balustrades.[4]
The Lewis Miller Cottage is considered one of the earliest prefabricated structures in the United States.[5] Miller brought the cottage from Akron, Ohio, and erected it at Chautauqua in 1875, where he entertained US President Ulysses S. Grant that summer.[4][5]
Mina Miller Edison, Miller's daughter, spent summers at the cottage with her husband, inventor Thomas Alva Edison.[5] She renovated the cottage in 1922.[6] Among the changes, several of the first floor's rooms were made into one large room.[4] Landscape architect Ellen Biddle Shipman developed extensive gardens around the cottage.[5]
In 2016 the Chautauqua Foundation acquired the cottage from Miller descendants Ted Arnn and Nancy Kim Arnn.[5]
