sights from the northeast shore of the forgotten borough for a change! --
alice austen house
i revisited the alice austen house in staten island couple times recently. she is a rather famous early photographer. her family clear comfort estate is a beautifully restored 17th century home and grounds. they have ongoing photo exhibits, mostly of local staten island photographers, and they rent the home and grounds out as event space. it got whacked by hurricane sandy, but it’s coming back along in good shape. there is a docent to explain everything and it has a small voluntary admission fee. if you visit make sure to also see fort wadsworth nearby.
http://aliceausten.org
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alice_Austen
from wiki:
elizabeth alice austen (March 17, 1866 – June 9, 1952) was a staten island photographer.
photography
alice became interested in photography when her uncle, oswald müller, brought home a camera around 1876. alice's uncle peter townsend austen was a chemistry professor at rutgers who taught her photographic processing. peter and oswald converted a closet on the second floor into alice's darkroom. the earliest extant photograph by her is dated 1884. over the next 40 years she produced around 8,000 photographs. austen's subject was daily life of the people of new york. she documented upper middle-class society on Staten Island and lower-class people living in new york's lower east side. her images of immigrants showed "a hesitancy and curiosity experienced by both photographer and subject."
aside from the photography, alice austen was also well known for two other things. one was her riches to rags story of being very wealthy and losing the fortune to the great depression, to the point that she was destitute. another was in her personal life, for a being an open lesbian, which was really something else back in those days, and so she has become rather iconic among the gays.
clear comfort
the house was built in the 17th century, but was expanded during the 19th century by alice's grandparents: john haggerty austen; and elizabeth alice townsend. clear comfort was dedicated as a national historic landmark on April 8, 1976, one month after the 110th anniversary of alice's birth. it is also known as "alice austen house" and is located in the rosebank neighborhood.
outside
same view, but a change of season - august & november
the quirky birdhouses on the dormers were restored
relatives of the austen cats are still around
inside
portrait of alice
there is a research area in the dayroom where you can look at examples of her work and other photography related material,
but most of her archives are stored over in historic richmondtown on the other side of staten island.
more examples of austen photos -- from online and the dayroom collections
upstairs is her small darkroom
rocky little clear comfort estate beach
views of the waterfront today
more from outside around the grounds
kind of goth
the three skylines
hazier in august -- if you have a good camera and eye this is a great place
big ships
nearby is fort wadsworth, part of the gateway national rec area park + the verrazano bridge
the waterfront part of the old fort is called the battery weed --
along with a bunch of early morning bikers and joggers i caught the change of command ceremony there, which was pretty cool
of course alice has photos of the nearby battery weed
along the base and waterfront neighborhoods
any wu tangers? awww yeah. stapleton neighborhood
detour jaunt on the staten island railway down to dongan hills neighborhood to lee’s tavern --
one of the handful of staten island style pizza joints the island is know for --
this is the red clam bar pie --
the crust is thin and tastes kind of like a chewy saltine cracker
a couple views from clifton sir station
on the way back to the ferry in the summer i walked by an outdoor oyster festival at the new flagship brewery --
so when in rome…!
one of the lighthouse point ruins near the ferry station that is being slowly redeveloped
from the 9/11 memorial near the ferry
from august -- the staten island ferris wheel in st. george -- aka the ny wheel -- is on the way
http://ny.curbed.com/2016/8/31/12729...ruction-update
lastly, yep there is a staten island ferry named for alice austen!
*** i hope you enjoyed the austen house and visiting ‘stan-eye-lyn’
***
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