Image copyright AP Image caption Mary Hemingway, who died in 1986, gave the house to The Nature Conservancy

A house in Idaho where Ernest Hemingway wrote his final works before killing himself has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

The two-storey, 2,500-sq-ft house, which he bought in 1959, was already owned by the Nature Conservancy.

The Nobel Prize-winning author wrote his books A Moveable Feast and The Dangerous Summer at the house.

Hemingway killed himself in the main entryway of the house, which is located in Ketchum, Idaho, in 1961.

It is thought Hemingway committed suicide at 61 because he was losing the ability to write to the same standard as before.

Paul Lusignan, a historian with the National Register, said the house was listed because of its ability to provide insights about the author.

Image copyright AP Image caption The house is full of Hemingway's personal possessions

"He lived a full life and he was going out on his own terms. I think that reflects the persona that he created for himself,'' Lusignan said.

The 1950s house is full of Mary and Ernest Hemingway's possessions.

"It's sort of frozen in the mid-century time period,'' said Tricia Canaday of Idaho's State Historic Preservation Office.

"It's got all his stuff in it, that's what's so amazing. His boots are sitting by the fireplace and his travel trunk where he painted Hemingway on it.''

Image copyright AP Image caption The inside of the house is 'frozen in time'

Mary Hemingway gave the house to The Nature Conservancy but it has been rarely visited by the public because of zoning restrictions.

Visits have been allowed by invitation only and at one point it was used as an office by the Conservancy.

It now hopes to start a writer-in-residence programme at the house.

This is the fifth house on the National Register that Hemingway has lived in. The most visited is his former home in Key West, where the descendents of his six-toed cat Snow White still live.