The Artist House
Built in the 1890s, this ornate Queen Anne mansion was the lifelong home of painter Robert Eugene Otto and his wife Anne, a concert pianist, and is the original home of Robert the Doll. Otto kept the doll in an upstairs room, and locals long claimed to see Robert peering down from the window. Stories tell of Otto talking to the doll in a separate voice that seemed to answer back, and of footsteps in empty rooms. After Otto died in 1974, the doll eventually left for the East Martello Museum, but guests at the house, now a bed and breakfast, still report a presence in the turret, the feeling of being watched from the upstairs window, and the lingering personalities of Gene and Anne. It is one of the most photographed houses in Key West and a fixture of island ghost tours.
📍 534 Eaton St, Key West, FL 33040, Key West, FL · Get directions