Vo l . 5 No . 4 Fall 2010 HISTORY BEGINS AT HOME. The Historic House Trust is a not-for-profit organization operating in tandem with the New York City Department of Parks & Recreation. Our mission is to provide essential support for houses of architectural and cultural significance, spanning 350 years of New York City life. These treasures reside within city parks and are open to the public. OWNING HISTORY Making room for controversy, opinion, rumor and conjecture PRINTING OF THIS NEWS- LETTER IS GENEROUSLY UNDERWRITTEN BY FORBES A 2010 recreation of Alice Austen’s “Group on Tennis Grounds, July 23, 1886.” Photographer Steven Rosen presents PUBLISHED QUARTERLY a conjectural interpretation of Alice Austen’s original image. Austen’s family built a tennis court, and many of BY THE HISTORIC HOUSE her photographs were taken during tennis parties there. They included a wide range of family and friends whose TRUST of NEW YORK CITY. personal relationships would, at times, seep through the images. Some of these photographs, although they appear No part of this newsletter may to be impromptu, are in fact and out of necessity highly planned and choreographed tableaux. They include nuanced be reprinted without the symbols—the placement of tennis racquet, wine bottle, or cane, the angle of a hat, a shoulder slightly touching or permission of The Historic House a directed glance. These signs, seen as a language, give us clues for a fuller reading of gender, class, and social Trust of New York City, Inc. standards of the day. In recreating the image, photographer Steven Rosen magnifies these signs in the original ISSN 1083-379x. photograph to produce new images full of conjectures about interpersonal relationships in 2010. FALL 2010 H I STORI C HOU S E TRU ST OF NEW YORK CI TY H I STORI C HOU S E TRU ST OF NEW YORK CI TY M A K ING ABOUT THE H ISTORY AUTHORS A CCESSIBLE ————————————— Lillian Faderman, an award- FOR EVERY ONE winning author, has published sland Historical Society. ————————————— I eleven books, including In 2005, the Trust began Surpassing the Love of Men working with the Parks and Odd Girls and Twilight Department to complete ife Magazine. Lovers, which were both L an accessibility survey of named by the New York Times mages/ its 23 properties in order I on their list of Notable Books to meet current Americans etty G of the Year. Her work has with Disabilities Act (ADA) been translated into eight requirements for historic languages. Phyllis Irwin is a buildings. Several houses professor emerita of music, already have some level Austen House and Staten Alice Original photograph. a textbook author, and a very of accessibility, such as serious amateur photographer accessible routes, ramps, isenstaedt, 1951. Courtesy of E KHSKRWRJUDSKHU$OLFH who exhibits at the Spectrum entrances, interiors, and $XVWHQ ¥ ZDVWKH Gallery in Fresno, California. restrooms. Some sites, T SURSULHWRURI&OHDU&RPIRUW however, can never be made DQWKFHQWXU\6WDWHQ,VODQGKRPH fully accessible because of the hotograph by Alfred hotograph by P WKDWKDGEHHQSXUFKDVHGLQE\ size and interior configuration 6: P KHUZHDOWK\JUDQGIDWKHU:KHQ$OLFH of the structure, as is the case Alice Austen in front of Clear Comfort, 1951. Alice lost the house as a result of finacial difficulties in 1945; after ABOUT THE ZDVMXVWDIHZPRQWKVROGVKHDQG with the Little Red Lighthouse. her death in 1952, it fell into decay. In the 1960s, concerned citizens rallied to save the house from demolition. KHUPRWKHUPRYHGLQWR&OHDU&RPIRUW PHOTOGRAPHER We are therefore developing It was aquired by the City in 1975 and was restored in the 1980s. ————————————— EHFDXVHWKH\KDGEHHQDEDQGRQHGE\ alternative curatorial plans Steven Rosen came to which include visual and $OLFHªVIDWKHU0RWKHUDQGGDXJKWHU photography after careers as ALICE AUSTEN AND GERTRUDE TATE: text descriptions of the EHFDPHSDUWRIDQH[WHQGHGIDPLO\ a jewelry designer and a book inaccessible areas. In other DKRXVHKROGRIVL[DGXOWVZKRGRWHG designer. His decades of work RQWKHRQHFKLOG:KHQ$OLFHZDV cases, guidebooks showing (above) A 2010 recreation of Alice Austen’s “Julia in the fashion and graphic photographs and detailing the WHQ\HDUVROGDQXQFOHJDYHKHUDODUJHIRUPDW Martin, Julia Bredt, and self dressed up as men. design industries give him history of inaccessible rooms FDPHUDDQGVKRZHGKHUKRZWRXVHLWDQRWKHUXQFOH 4:40 pm, Thursday, October 15, 1891.” Alice said of a highly developed sense of are available to visitors. A “BOSTON FRQYHUWHGDVHFRQGIORRUFORVHWLQ&OHDU&RPIRUWLQWR the original in 1951, “We looked so funny with those color, light, and composition. DGDUNURRPIRU$OLFH¦DQGWKHUHVWLVKLVWRU\ mustaches on, I can hardly tell which is which. We did He works throughout New 2UUDWKHUDSDUWRIWKHUHVWKDVEHHQ it just for fun—maybe we were better looking men than York as a portrait, event, DFNQRZOHGJHGKLVWRU\$OLFH$XVWHQªVUHPDUNDEOH women.” Austen’s original image points to a deeper social and theater photographer. issue, however. At the turn of the century, women had His love for theatricality has SKRWRJUDSKVSRUWUD\LQJLPPLJUDQWVDWZRUNDQG limited economic opportunities. It was not unheard of MARRIAGE” VRFLDOLWHVDWSOD\FDSWXULQJVWXQQLQJYLHZVRIUXUDO exerted itself with a body of for women to dress as men to seek out better-paying and 6WDWHQ,VODQGDQGFURZGHG0DQKDWWDQKDYHIRXQGD more liberating work. And more often than not, they work exploring modern day VROLGSODFHLQWKHDQQDOVRI$PHULFDQSKRWRJUDSK\ were successful. Photographer Steven Rosen asked the dandies and flappers. Steven ON STATEN ISLAND 6KHZDVRQHRI$PHULFDªVHDUOLHVWDQGPRVWSUROLILF award-winning Drag Alliance performance group Switch and his husband Ray, a FOLLO W U S BY LILLIAN FADERMAN AND PHYLLIS IRWIN ZRPHQSKRWRJUDSKHUVDQGLVZLGHO\FRQVLGHUHGDQ n’ Play to reinterpret the original photograph from a writer, marry art and text in a ONLIN E ! WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY CARL RUTBERG, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, ALICE AUSTEN HOUSE MUSEUM distinctively contemporary vantage point. Jack Kelly DUWLVWZLWKDVWURQJDHVWKHWLFH\H+RZHYHUWKHUHLV historic art deco building in ————————————— and K. James of Switch n' Play; Jo. Styling by Switch n’ Brooklyn. To explore his work $OLFH$XVWHQZDV§RXWHG¨LQ$QH[KLELWLRQDW PHPEHUVEHWZHHQWKHERDUGDQGWKHSULRUH[HFXWLYH DQRWKHUDVSHFWRI$OLFH$XVWHQWKDWKDVJHQHUDOO\EHHQ Play, www.switchnplay.com. further, visit him at www. 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Lovers, which were both L an accessibility survey of named by the New York Times mages/ its 23 properties in order I on their list of Notable Books to meet current Americans etty G of the Year. Her work has with Disabilities Act (ADA) been translated into eight requirements for historic languages. Phyllis Irwin is a buildings. Several houses professor emerita