The President James K. Polk Home & Museum is the presidential museum for the eleventh president of the United States, James K. Polk, and is located at 301 West 7th Street in Columbia, Tennessee. Built in 1816, it is the only surviving private residence of United States President James K. Polk. It was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1961, and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. As President Polk's primary historic site it is open daily (except select holidays) for guided tours. Description and history The James K. Polk Home is located just west of the commercial central downtown area of Columbia, at the southwest corner of West 7th and South High streets. It is an L-shaped brick building, two stories in height, with a gabled roof. The front facade, facing West 7th Street, is three bays wide, with the main entrance in the rightmost bay, recessed in a segmented-arch opening. The door is flanked by sidelight windows and topped by a semi-oval transom window with tracery, and the interior walls of the recess are paneled. The other bays house windows, which are topped by lintels of brick and a stone keystone. The interior retains finishes period to its construction, but has otherwise been adapted for museum displays. The property includes a reproduction of the kitchen outbuilding that would have been present during Polk's residency; none of the outbuildings from his time survive. The house was built in 1816 by Samuel Polk, and was the home of his son, U.S. President James K. Polk, for six years as a young adult. It is the only private residence associated with President Polk to survive. James lived in the house until 1824 on and off again, when he left to read law in Nashville under Felix Grundy, and for a time after his return to Columbia, where he opened his law practice. He would move into a home down the street with his wife Sarah Childress around the same time in 1824 where they spent the longest duration of their lives together. (That home was destroyed by fire in the late 19th century, and is currently a funeral home parking lot.) The president would own the Home after his father's death in 1827 while his mother lived in the home until her death in 1852. One of the president's younger brothers William Hawkins Polk was the last Polk