Alice Austen House Museum

Location: 2 Hylan Boulevard
Phone: (718) 816-4506
Description: The Alice Austen House Museum on Staten Island recalls the world of an exceptional woman, photographer Alice Austen. Her photographs represent street and private life through the lens of a lesbian woman whose life spanned from 1866 to 1952. Austen's quaint, Victorian cottage-style home, with a magnificent view of New York Harbor, displays prints from the large glass negative collection of her work that depicts turn-of-the-century American life. The original house, one of the City's oldest, dates back to the 1690s. The property was bought in 1844 by John H. Austen, Alice's grandfather. Austen expanded the small, one-and-a-half-story farmhouse, and named it "Clear Comfort". Alice Austen was born nearby in 1866. After her father abandoned the family, she and her mother moved into her grandparents' home and Alice continued to live in the house until 1945. Austen would spend 53 years in a devoted loving relationship with Gertrude Tate. They spent 30 years living together in this home, which is now the site of the Alice Austen House Museum and a nationally-designated site of LGBTQ history. Austen went on to become one of the most influential photographers of the 20th Century. The City bought the Austen house in 1975, and today the Friends of Alice Austen House operates the museum.

Accessible Notes: limited