The Carmel area's influence in Robinson Jeffers' work becomes apparent in his poems such as his work 'The Purse Seine', a poem about the local fishing industry. He described the land he chose as the site for the house as being like a 'prow and plunging cutwater' of a ship. Jeffers named it Tor House after the type of ground on which the house was situated, a granite outcrop that might have been known as a 'tor' in southwest England.

They remained there until Donnan and his wife Lee died. Donnan Jeffers, one of the couple's two sons, lived with his family in the neighboring east wing of the house. The Jeffers family moved into Tor House in August 1919-after Robinson Jeffers had worked as an apprentice in its construction-and lived there for the remainder of their lives.

It may express more direct intelligence per square inch than any other house in America.' The two structures, often referred to jointly as Tor House, are generally believed to have played a crucial role in the development of Robinson Jeffers as a poet, and have inspired many a visitor for example, Stewart Brand, founder of the Whole Earth Catalog: Tor House and Hawk Tower were the home of poet Robinson Jeffers and family from 1919 to 1999.

Tor house in carmel