Kennedy Living Room

Rose Kennedy used the living room to show the wealth, education, and culture of her family.

NPS / Robert Perron

Quick Facts

Location:

83 Beals Street, Brookline, MA

The living room, to the right from the front door and across the hall from the dining room, was probably the first room that you would have been brought to when visiting the family. Although the clues may be subtle, the room is furnished with signs of Mr. and Mrs. Kennedy’s wealth, education, and culture.

Mrs. Kennedy was an accomplished musician and her piano sits in the corner. On the walls hang prints of famous works of art that she had seen on her overseas travels and studies in Europe. There are National Geographic magazines, books, a newspaper, and a Literary Digest, which show that the family valued reading. There are also many family portraits - of Mrs. Kennedy with her children, as well as the Fitzgeralds.