Alice Austen House

Elizabeth Alice Austen House – Clear Comfort[1]
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
U.S. National Historic Landmark
New York State Register of Historic Places
New York City Landmark No. 0371
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Location	2 Hylan Boulevard Staten Island New York City, New York
Coordinates	40°36′53.7″N 74°3′49″W
Built	1690[2]
Architectural style	Dutch Colonial, later Gothic Revival[3]
NRHP reference No.	70000925
NYSRHP No.	08501.000264
NYCL No.	0371
Significant dates
Added to NRHP	July 28, 1970[2]
Designated NHL	April 19, 1993[4]
Designated NYSRHP	June 23, 1980
Designated NYCL	August 2, 1967

The Alice Austen House, also known as Clear Comfort, is located at 2 Hylan Boulevard in the Rosebank section of Staten Island, New York City, New York.^[5] It was home of Alice Austen, a photographer, for most of her lifetime, and is now a museum and a member of the Historic House Trust.^[6] The house is administered by the "Friends of Alice Austen", a volunteer group.^[7]

In 2021, Clear Comfort was documented by the LGBT Historic Sites project, the first NYC site dedicated to a woman to be so recognized.^[8]

History

View of the house from the beach

View over New York Bay

It was originally built in the 1690s/early 1700s as a one-room Dutch Colonial House on the shore of New York Harbor, near the Narrows with brothers Jacob, Lambert and John Woulter/Johnson being the likely first occupants. The brothers Johnson purchased 120 acres of land from George Brown in 1698.^[9] Jacob Johnson's mother-in-law was Winifred King Benham, who was tried for witchcraft in Wallingford, Connecticut, and may have been a resident of the house after her acquittal and virtual banishment.^[10]

The house was remodeled and expanded several times in the 1800s, most notably after John Haggerty Austen, Alice's grandfather, purchased, renamed, and remodeled it in 1844.^[2]

In the 1950s and 1960s, photographers Berenice Abbott and Philip Johnson led a group of historic preservationists to save the house from being demolished.^[11] It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1970 and became a New York City Landmark in 1971. It was purchased by New York City in 1975 and opened to the public in 1985.^[12] In 1993 it became a National Historic Landmark, and in 2002, it became a Historic Artist Home and Studio.^[7][2]

Museum special exhibitions and activities

Alice Austen House participates as a museum in the Smithsonian program of Museum Day events.^[13] In 2016 Austen House presented its first juried triennial exhibition, Staten Island Unlimited featuring 35 photographers from three boroughs of New York.^[14] During the members' preview reception of the show, a toast was made to Alice Austen's 150th birthday. Other activities included Triennial Talks, discussions with artists about their work on the subjects of "Staten Island as Place" and "Staten Island as Community."^[15]

In March 2016, the Whitney Museum hosted New Eyes on Alice Austen, a panel discussion in honor of Women's History Month and Alice Austen's 150th birthday featuring "scholars, academics, and historians who have investigated her incredible work and unconventional lifestyle."^[16] This was part of the museum's re-interpretation to include Gertrude Tate, Austen's long time life partner.^[17][18] This also includes a new podcast, My Dear Alice.^[19]

This led to the museum being designated an LGBT site by the National Register of Historic Places.^[20]

Alleged haunting

An old neighborhood tradition told that, after midnight, one could hear the clanking of chains coming from the cellar. This was attributed to the ghosts of slaves who were kept there during the American Revolution. Another apocryphal story is that of a British soldier hanging himself from a beam in the parlor because of a broken heart. It is said that the sound of his military boots and the clinking of his spurs may be heard in that room after midnight.^[21]

See also

• List of museums devoted to one photographer
• List of the oldest buildings in New York
• List of New York City Designated Landmarks in Staten Island

References

1. National Park Service (March 31, 2017), Weekly List of Actions Taken on Properties: 3/20/2017 through 3/24/2017, archived from the original on April 4, 2017, retrieved April 4, 2017. The house was originally entered on the National Register as the "Elizabeth Alice Austen House". Its National Historic Landmark designation uses the name "Alice Austen House". Its National Register listing name was subsequently updated to "Elizabeth Alice Austen House – Clear Comfort" in 2017.
2. "Alice Austen House Museum and Park". Statenislandusa.com. Archived from the original on August 3, 2008. Retrieved August 5, 2008.
3. Dolkart, Andrew S. & Postal, Matthew A.; Guide to New York City Landmarks, 3rd Edition; New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission; John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 2004. ISBN 0-471-36900-4; p.342.
4. "Alice Austen House". National Historic Landmark summary listing. National Park Service. September 14, 2007. Archived from the original on December 14, 2007. Retrieved August 6, 2008. For 78 years, this was the home Elizabeth Alice Austen (1866-1952), a remarkable photographer whose work predates in subject matter and technique the photographs of other giants in the field. Austen began her career in the 1870s, and, although she used subjects as other women photographers of her time, her pictures have a realistic and natural edge rather than the blurry romantic view advocated by magazines of the time. Austen also veered away from the conventional studio poses; instead she took pictures of people during the course of their normal activities.
5. Wilson, Claire. "Living In Rosebank, Staten Island: A Quiet Slice of New York Waterfront", The New York Times, March 12, 2006. Accessed November 3, 2007.
6. "Alice Austen House". Places Where Women Made History. National Park Service. January 23, 2007. For 78 years, this was the home Elizabeth Alice Austen (1866-1952), a remarkable photographer whose work predates in subject matter and technique the photographs of other giants in the field.
7. "Alice Austen House Museum". Historic House Trust. Archived from the original on February 16, 2008. Retrieved August 5, 2008.
8. Calvi, Mary (June 1, 2022). "Alice Austen House celebrates photographer's queer identity as "essential to understanding her work"". Retrieved August 25, 2022.
9. The Austen Family and Their Home The Staten Island Historian, Vol. 28, No. 2, page 2. Retrieved October 31, 2024
10. Families of Ancient New Haven. The American Genealogist, 1926. Volume 4, pages 957-8.
11. "Alice Austen House". NYC LGBT Historic Sites Project. Retrieved July 12, 2021.
12. Besonen, Julie (June 27, 2014). "She Did It Her Way". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved August 25, 2022.
13. "Visit Your Favorite Museum For Free on 9/24/16". Smithsonian. Retrieved December 6, 2016.
14. "Past Exhibitions | Alice Austen House". aliceausten.org. Retrieved December 6, 2016.
15. "Alice Austen House is raising funds for its educational programs with an art auction". Popular Photography. October 5, 2018. Retrieved December 21, 2018.
16. "Rediscovering Alice Austen: A New Woman for a Modern World". American Photo. Archived from the original on August 17, 2016. Retrieved December 6, 2016.
17. Laird, Cynthia (October 6, 2017). "LGBT History Month: Museum updates its history of Alice Austen". The Bay Area Reporter. Retrieved August 25, 2022.
18. Laird, Cynthia (October 25, 2021). "LGBTQ History Month: Staten Island Museum throws open Austen's closet door". Retrieved August 25, 2022.
19. Chernick, Karen (June 8, 2022). "New podcast reveals lives of queer 19th-century women through letters of photographer Alice Austen". Retrieved August 25, 2022.
20. Rizzi, Nicholas (June 16, 2017). "Alice Austen House Designated as National LGBT Historic Site". Archived from the original on January 19, 2023. Retrieved August 25, 2022.
21. Cromwell Childe (1895). "Haunted Houses". The American Magazine. New York: Frank Leslie's Publishing House.

External links

• Official website