Alice Austen’s house & Clan Macleod

At a meeting in March 2017 of the Executive Council of the International Congress of Maritime Museums (ICMM) at Mystic Seaport, USA, Council members Alan Edenborough from Sydney Heritage Fleet and Frits Loomeijer, Managing Director of the Rotterdam Maritime Museum, were discussing historical references for ship restoration.

Mention was made of New York photographer Alice Austen, who photographed Clan Macleod in the 1890’s as the ship passed her house.

Clan Macleod photographed in New York by Alice Austen in the 1890s

Frits remarked that on his way to the ICMM meeting he made a stopover in New York and stayed next door to Alice Austen’s house, now preserved as a museum in recognition of her photographic work and as a pioneer woman in the world of photography.

Frits took views of ships from Austen’s house just as she had done more than a century ago when she captured Clan Macleod through her lens. The skyline is very different but it is still a major shipping waterway.

Alice Austen’s house. In this picture, Alice is sitting on the porch.

Present day photographs by Frits Loomeijer

The 2017 view from Alice Austen’s New York house

Alice Austin’s house in March 2017 after an unseasonal Spring snowstorm