{"nrhp_refnum":"71000137","name":"Tao House","other_names":["Eugene O'Neill House"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"1.5 mi. W of Danville","address_restricted":false,"city":"Danville","county":"Contra Costa County","state":"CA","lat":37.824623258500054,"lon":-122.02968912210076,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1971-05-06","is_nhl":true,"nhl_designated_date":"1971-07-17","areas_of_significance":["Literature"],"significance_levels":["national"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"Tao House is a residence on a hillside plateau of Las Trampas Ridge near Danville, Contra Costa County, California, built in 1937 as the home of playwright Eugene O'Neill and his wife Carlotta Monterey. Mrs. O'Neill designed it with architect Frederick Confer.","why_significant":"The nomination argues that Tao House is the place where O'Neill, considered a central figure in American drama, did his final and some of his best work, including The Iceman Cometh and Long Day's Journey Into Night. The seven years there were perhaps the longest period of relative happiness in his life. Later changes did not affect the essential character or setting of the property.","narrative":"Tao House is a long, L-shaped residence set on a small plateau high on Las Trampas Ridge, overlooking the San Ramon Valley and Mount Diablo near Danville, California. Eugene O'Neill and his wife Carlotta Monterey O'Neill moved in during October 1937. Mrs. O'Neill designed the home with architect Frederick Confer as a \"pseudo-Chinese house,\" using rough-faced concrete blocks, a low black tile roof, red-painted shutters, a walled courtyard and red tile floors. Here O'Neill wrote The Iceman Cometh and A Moon for the Misbegotten, and Long Day's Journey Into Night, and he completed several other plays. Many critics regard him as the central figure in the maturing of American drama. Wartime hardships and his health led the couple to leave in late 1943. Later owners made modest changes and turned the estate into a ranch, yet the site retains much of the mood its first occupants sought. The study remains among the least-altered rooms.","period_of_significance":"1937-1944","architect_builder":"Frederick Confer (architect), in conjunction with Mrs. O'Neill","architectural_style":"Described as \"a sort of pseudo-Chinese house\" with a Chinese motif","criteria":[],"status_note":"Condition listed as good and altered, on its original site; described as part of a working ranch with later barns and pasturage. Present use is marked as private residence.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:55:31.282112-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_CA/71000137.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/71000137/c21e500de2-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/71000137/c21e500de2-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Related names: O'Neill, Carlotta Confer, Frederick Corduroy Hills Joint Venture O'Neill, Eugene Reimers, Frederick Simpson, Lloyd C Gerdes Miller Boucher, Jack, photographer McDonald, Melissa, historian Cox, Robert M, historian McCown, Susan, historian English, Fred, photographer","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:BLEMIE%27S_GRAVE,_LOOKING_WEST._BLEMIE_WAS_THE_O%27NEILLS%27_PET_DACHSUND_-_Eugene_O%27Neill_House,_Kuss_Road,_Danville,_Contra_Costa_County,_CA_HABS_CAL,7-DAN.V,1-65.tif\" rel=\"noopener\">Related names: O'Neill, Carlotta Confer, Frederick Corduroy Hills Joint Venture O'Neill, Eugene Reimers, Frederick Simpson, Lloyd C Gerdes Miller Boucher, Jack, photographer McDonald, Melissa, historian Cox, Robert M, historian McCown, Susan, historian English, Fred, photographer</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:BLEMIE%27S_GRAVE,_LOOKING_WEST._BLEMIE_WAS_THE_O%27NEILLS%27_PET_DACHSUND_-_Eugene_O%27Neill_House,_Kuss_Road,_Danville,_Contra_Costa_County,_CA_HABS_CAL,7-DAN.V,1-65.tif"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/123858577","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eugene_O%27Neill_National_Historic_Site","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q14681956"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/california/contra-costa-county/tao-house-71000137/"}