Alice Austen House

Alice Austen captured a changing New York City in more than 7000 photographs taken mostly around the turn of the twentieth century. Victoria Munro, Executive Director of the Alice Austen House, welcomes you to the Alice Austen House audio tour.

Clear Comfort (a.k.a. the Alice Austen House) was built in 1690 as a one-room Dutch farmhouse. In 1844 it was purchased by John Haggerty Austen, Alice Austen’s grandfather. Executive Director, Victoria Munro introduces the Austen family and how they ended up at Clear Comfort.

Alice Austen was versatile and forged her own path beyond the restrictive Victorian expectations for women. Executive Director, Victoria Munro describes what life was like for Alice during the Victorian era.

Alice Austen was a master tennis player, an early advocate for women riding bicycles, founder of the Staten Island Garden Club, and is said to be the first woman on Staten Island to own a car. Executive Director, Victoria Munro explains more.

Alice Austen House and its surrounding park and gardens are nationally designated sites of LGBTQ+ significance, having been occupied for 30 years by Alice and her loving partner, Gertrude Tate. Executive Director, Victoria Munroe and Director of Collections, Kristine Allegretti share more.

Alice Austen documented her life on Staten Island and boldly ventured onto the streets of Manhattan to photograph the activities of immigrants and the working class. Director of Collections, Kristine Allegretti shares more.

John Austen’s architectural transformation of his home from a simple 18th-century Dutch farmhouse into a Victorian Gothic cottage was extensive. On the roof, he added dormer windows embellished with Victorian bargeboards and birdhouse finials. Decorative cresting and octagonal chimney pots added to the picturesque silhouette. Director of Collections Kristine Allegretti shares more.

Alice Austen’s life and relationships with other women are crucial to an understanding of her work. Until very recently many interpretations of Austen’s work overlooked her intimate relationships. What is especially significant about Austen’s photographs is that they provide rare documentation of intimate relationships between Victorian women. Her non-traditional lifestyle and that of her friends,...

Director of Collections, Kristine Allegretti breaks down Alice's photography on a technical level.

Alice Austen would spend 56 years in a devoted loving relationship with Gertrude Tate, 30 years of which were spent living together in her home which is now the site of the Alice Austen House Museum and a nationally designated site of LGBTQ history. Executive Director, Victoria Munro and Director of Collections Kristine Allegretti share more.

Austen’s wealth was lost in the stock market crash of 1929 and she and Tate were finally evicted from their beloved home in 1945. Tate and Austen were separated by family rejection of their relationship and poverty. Austen was moved to the Staten Island Farm Colony where Tate would visit her weekly. In 1951 Austen’s photographs were rediscovered by historian Oliver Jensen and money was raised by t...

Thank you for joining us to learn more about about the photographs, life and historic home of American photographer, Alice Austen (1866-1952).