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Alice Austen House

The Alice Austen House, also known as Clear Comfort or as Elizabeth Alice Austen House, is located at 2 Hylan Boulevard in the Rosebank section of Staten Island, New York City, New York. It was home of Alice Austen, a photographer, for most of her lifetime, and is now a museum.

It was originally built between 1690 and 1750 as a one room Dutch Colonial House on the shore of New York harbor, near the Narrows. It was remodeled and expanded several times in the 1800s, most notably after John Austen, Alice's grandfather, purchased, renamed, and remodelled it in 1844.

It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1970, became a New York City Landmark in 1971 and a National Historic Landmark in 1993.

It was purchased by New York City in 1975 and opened to the public. In 2002, it became a Historic Artist Home and Studio

Alice Austen was introduced to photography when she was 10 years old by her Uncle Oswald, who brought home an early-model dry plate camera from one of his many trips abroad. Alice showed immediate and natural ability. Through experimentation she taught herself how to operate the complex camera mechanism, judge exposure, develop the heavy glass plates, and make prints. By the time she was 18 in 1884, she was not only technically skilled but artistically accomplished as well.

Alice was active, social, and well traveled. Everywhere she went, she took her camera equipment, which sometimes weighed as much as fifty pounds and often filled a steamer trunk. As a result of her desire to photograph so much of her life and the world around her, her range of subjects was extensive. In her lifetime, she created images on approximately 8,000 glass plates, of which more than 3,000 survive.

Alice remained an amateur photographer at heart, though she sold some of her work. She took pictures for the love of it-and so she had more freedom to express herself than professional Victorian women photographers. Her straightforward style anticipated documentary photography. At the same time, she used composition, pose, costuming, and satire to convey her point of view.

Alice Austen's work is significant because of its high quality, its range, and its level of expression that together form a beautiful visual window on 19th century America.

Clear Comfort (a.k.a. The Alice Austen House) was built in 1690. In 1844 it was purchased by John Haggerty Austen, Alice Austen's grandfather. Alice Austen herself moved there as a young girl in the late1860's with her mother, Alice Cornell Austen, after the two were abandoned by Alice's father. She went on to spend most of her life there, until financial problems and illness forced her to move in 1945. In her absence, the house fell into disrepair until a group of concerned citizens saved it from demolition in the 1960's. The house successfully gained status as a historic landmark, and was restored in the mid 1980's. It currently serves as a museum of Alice Austen's life and times.

Address
2 Hylan Boulevard
Staten Island
NY 10305

Directions:

From Manhattan by Staten Island Ferry
Subway to South Ferry (1), Whitehall Street (N/R), or Bowling Green Station (4/5)
or bus or taxi to:
Staten Island Ferry (25 minute ride). At the ferry terminal in Staten Island #S51 Bus to Hylan Boulevard (15 minute ride). Walk one block east to water and house (Note: for schedule of ferry boats taking cars call  (212) 806-6940 ).

From Manhattan via Brooklyn by car
From the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel (toll) or the Brooklyn or Manhattan Bridge take the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway to the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge to Staten Island (right lane on bridge). Take the first exit (after toll), "Bay Street". Continue to the end of street (School Road) then turn left onto Bay Street. Continue to Hylan Boulevard then turn right and follow street to water and house.

From New Jersey toll bridges
From the Outerbridge Crossing, Goethals or Bayonne Bridge follow signs to Route 278 East. Exit at "Clove Rd./Richmond Rd./Hylan Blvd." Continue on service road (Narrows Road South). Just before the fifth traffic light turn left onto Hylan Boulevard and continue to water and house.

Hours
The house is open all year (except January, February and major holidays).
Thursday through Sunday 12:00 P.M. - 5:00 P.M.

Admission
A suggested donation of $2.00 per person helps support the museum.

Contact
Phone:  (718) 816-4506 
Fax: (718) 815-3959
eaausten@aol.com
http://www.aliceausten.org

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