Information
Landmark: Alice Austen HouseCity: Staten Island
Country: USA New York
Continent: North America
Alice Austen House, Staten Island, USA New York, North America
Overview
The Alice Austen House-also called Clear Comfort-sits at 2 Hylan Boulevard on Staten Island, its windows looking out over New York Harbor.This historic museum celebrates the life and work of Alice Austen (1866–1952), a trailblazing American photographer.Perched on Staten Island’s eastern shore, the house looks out over New York Harbor, with the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge stretching across the water like a silver ribbon.The museum keeps Austen’s legacy alive and doubles as a lively cultural hub, showcasing photography, exploring personal identity, and celebrating LGBTQ+ history-walls lined with portraits that seem to watch you back.Clear Comfort began as a one-room Dutch Colonial house in the 1690s, its white clapboard walls catching the morning light.In the 19th century, it grew through several expansions, especially after Alice’s grandfather, John Haggerty Austen, bought it in 1844.The house shows clear touches of Gothic Revival-tall, pointed windows and a roofline that seems to reach for the sky.Alice Austen, one of America’s first female photographers, captured more than 7,000 images-street scenes, immigrant families, and women laughing at seaside picnics-through the late 1800s and early 1900s.She spent most of her life in Clear Comfort, where she and her partner, Gertrude Tate, shared the small sunlit house for almost three decades.In the 1960s, real estate developers threatened to tear the house down, putting its preservation at risk.Photographer Berenice Abbott and architect Philip Johnson, along with other preservationists, pushed hard to save it, picturing its stone arch still catching the afternoon light.In 1967, the house earned New York City Landmark status; three years later, it joined the National Register of Historic Places, and by 1993, it stood proudly as a National Historic Landmark.The museum displays Austen’s photographs, set among contemporary shows-images that catch the light like silver on glass.It includes period rooms carefully restored to capture the feel of the Victorian era, from polished mahogany desks to lace-trimmed curtains.The Alice Austen House runs school programs, hands-on workshops, and cultural events that dive into photography, history, and LGBTQ+ identity-sometimes pausing to study a single faded snapshot in detail.In 2017, the house’s listing on the National Register of Historic Places was updated to honor its place in LGBTQ+ history, recognizing the lifelong partnership between Alice Austen and Gertrude Tate-a bond captured in countless photographs and shared afternoons by the water.You can visit Tuesday through Friday from noon to 5 p.m., and on Saturdays from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.; the museum’s closed Sundays, Mondays, and major holidays.A $5 donation is suggested, but members of affiliated groups and up to four people receiving SNAP benefits get in free.Call (718) 816‑4506 for details.From Manhattan, catch the Staten Island Ferry, then hop on the S51 bus-the ride offers a quick view of the harbor before you arrive.Visitors driving in will find parking ready and waiting, with spaces marked clearly near the main entrance.The Alice Austen House honors the bold life of a pioneering photographer and remains a vibrant cultural landmark, safeguarding Staten Island’s history along with the wider stories of American photography and LGBTQ+ heritage, much like the scent of salt air clings to its porch on a summer afternoon.
