On the Hartford house: SLC approved the design, but Livy was by far the more architecturally active member of the couple. She paced out the dimensions of the house on the land, met with E. T. Potter, and sketched out several versions of the interior. Even so, both Sam and Livy were away from Hartford during much of the design phase and almost all the construction; Sam, particularly, was absent in England for most of the year and a half the house took to build. The pattern of interest in design between Sam and Livy can be seen clearly in their later efforts at decorating the interior. Twice Sam approved spending money on decorating the interior, which had been left plain in 1874; he then left almost all the decisions to Livy, both after they returned from Europe in 1878 and when they called in Associated Artists in 1881 -- the house currently reflects the 1881 design. It is possible that Sam and Livy allowed traditional domestic divisions -- women handled the interior and men the exterior of the house -- but this seems unlikely. Sam loved the house, and particularly loved its prominence in the Hartford landscape and frequently praised Livy for its exquisite beauty, but he never took any credit for the appearance of the place, which I expect he would have if he had any to take. The house bears no design relationship to steamboats; I believe Marianne Curling, the curator of the house, had traced the tale to a German tourist viewing the place after the publication of _Life on the Mississippi_; she'd be happy to tell you if you ask her. The is an excellent master's thesis on the client-architect relationship between the Clemenses and Potter at the Trinity College (Hartford) Watkinson Library. I wish I could remember the author and title, but it shouldn't be too hard to find. Hope this helps. Andy Hoffman