林語堂先生於清光緒二十一年（1895）十月十日生於福建省龍溪（漳州）縣。

他曾獲上海聖約翰大學學士學位、美國哈佛大學比較文學碩士學位、德國萊比錫大學語言學博士學位，是一位以英文書寫而揚名海外的中國作家，也是集語言學家、哲學家、文學家、旅遊家、發明家於一身的知名學者。

林語堂因為翻譯「幽默」（Humor）一詞，以及創辦《論語》、《人間世》《宇宙風》三本雜誌，提倡幽默文學，「幽默大師」自此加冕；並著有《吾國吾民》、《生活的藝術》、《京華煙雲》、《風聲鶴唳》、《朱門》、《老子的智慧》、《蘇東坡傳》等經典名著。

民國五十五年，落葉歸根的思鄉之情促使語堂先生離美返台定居。

這座房子是政府的禮物，由林語堂先生親自設計；這座白牆藍瓦的別墅，以中國四合院的架構模式，結合西班牙的設計取向，融合成現代感與古典美兼具的建築。歐風建築正是他年輕時所夢想的上海樓房形象，而故居的地點則選擇貌似福建故鄉山景的陽明山；在這裡，最讓他欣慰的是，可以聽到親切的閩南話。

他曾經形容這座宅院「宅中有園，園中有屋，屋中有院，院中有樹，樹上有天，天上有月，不亦快哉」，陽台是林先生生前常來的地方；吃完晚飯，林先生最喜歡坐在桌旁的藤椅上，口含煙斗，欣賞夕照沉沒於觀音山際。

語堂先生於民國六十五年三月廿六日去世於香港，四月移靈台北，長眠於故居後園中，享壽八十二歲。

Lin is best known for his translation of "Humor," as well as the three magazines The Analects of Confucius, World of Mankind, and Cosmic Wind. H is promotion of humorous literature won him the title of "Master of Humor." In addition, he contributed a number of notable collections including My country and My people, The Importance of Living, Moment in Peking , Leaf in the Storm, The Vermilion Gate, The Wisdom of Laotse, and The Gay Genius: The Life and Times of Su Tungpo . 

In 1966, homesickness forced Lin to leave America and return to his home in Taiwan .

This house was the government's gift and was designed by Lin himself. The villa with white walls and indigo roof represents the "shiheyuan" architectural style, a Chinese style with a quadrangle courtyard surrounded by four houses, and combined with Spanish architecture, successfully mixing beautiful modern and classic structure. The European architecture fulfills his dreams from his youth of the impression of two-story Shanghai houses, but also follows the style of his former residence incorporating the mountain scenery of Yangminshan. Here the most gratifying for Lin was the fact that he could hear the cordial local dialect of Fujian .

He once described the dwelling as "in the dwelling there is a garden, in the garden there is a house, in the house there is a courtyard, in the courtyard there is a tree, on the tree there is the sky, in the sky there is the moon, what a fortunate life!” The balcony was a place Mr. Lin often went before his death. After dinner, Mr. Lin liked sitting near the table on the rattan chair, with a smoking pipe in his mouth, appreciating the evening glow from the sun setting behind Guanyin Mountain .

On March 26 in 1976, Lin died in Hong Kong . His remains were transferred back to Taipei and he was laid to rest in the garden behind in his old residence. He was 82 years old.