New York has no shortage of art museums. But if you’re drawn to the lives behind the work, the NYC metro area offers something rarer: the artists’ homes, which reveal the domestic corners where artists cooked, hosted friends or built sculptures from the basement up.
These house museums and foundations, all open to the public, invite visitors into preserved spaces that shaped some of the most influential artistic visions of the 20th century. The Louis Armstrong House Museum in Queens is a famous example, winning the National Medal for museums in 2024. And Hamptons visitors often stop by the Pollock-Krasner House and studio in the hamlet of Springs, in East Hampton.
Here are some other options in and around NYC, some equally well-known and others less visited. Reservations often need to be made early, as tours like the Louise Bourgeois House in Chelsea often fill up months in advance.
Renee & Chaim Gross Foundation, Greenwich Village
Sculptor Chaim Gross turned a former hat factory on LaGuardia Place into his home and studio in 1963. Today, it houses the Renee & Chaim Gross Foundation, which preserves not only his workspace, which is still lit by a large skylight and filled with tools, but also the family’s art-filled living quarters upstairs.
Gross was part of New York’s postwar immigrant art scene and a lifelong collector. His eclectic taste is on display in rooms hung with works by Picasso, Chagall and Klee, as well as African and Oceanic art.
The Renee & Chaim Gross Foundation is at 526 LaGuardia Place, Manhattan. It’s open for tours by appointment Wednesday through Saturday, September through June. Details here.
The Alice Austen House in Rosebank
Photo by Dani Groza / Courtesy of the Alice Austen House
Alice Austen House, Rosebank
Clear Comfort, the home of pioneering photographer Alice Austen, is perched on Staten Island’s northeast shore, with sweeping harbor views. The home is as much a subject of her work as it is a setting.
From the late 1800s through the 1930s, Austen used this Gothic cottage as a base for photographing street life, immigrants and everyday domestic scenes in a changing New York City.
The site is now a museum and cultural center that celebrates Austen’s life, including her decadeslong relationship with Gertrude Tate. It became a nationally designated LGBTQ+ historic site in 2017.
The Alice Austen House is at 2 Hylan Blvd., Staten Island, and is open Tuesday through Saturday. Details are here.
Donald Judd’s home in Soho
Courtesy of the Judd Foundation
Donald Judd’s home, SoHo
No list of NYC artist houses is complete without 101 Spring St., perhaps the only single-family cast-iron building in SoHo. Judd purchased the five-story building in 1968 and installed not just his own work but pieces by Dan Flavin and Frank Stella; the sculpture he traded for the gigantic Stella painting still stands on the grounds of Philip Johnson’s “Glass House” in New Canaan, Connecticut.
Judd’s minimalist living style is as much or more of a draw than his permanently installed artworks. A newly opened exhibition of works by artist Larry Bell, in the ground floor gallery, adds a fresh dimension to the space this fall.
Tickets are available here.
The Edward Hopper House Museum in Nyack
Courtesy of The Edward Hopper House Museum
Edward Hopper House Museum, Nyack
Before Edward Hopper became synonymous with solitary diners and stark urban scenes, he grew up in a Victorian house in Nyack, overlooking the Hudson River. The building, which dates to 1858, was restored by local preservationists after decades of neglect and is now a museum and arts center.
Hopper’s childhood bedroom has been reimagined in period style to reflect the light and views that inspired his early work. The museum also hosts exhibitions of 20th century and contemporary art in the downstairs galleries.
The Edward Hopper House is at 82 North Broadway, Nyack. It’s open Wednesday through Sunday. Details are here.
The James Rose Center, in Ridgewood
Courtesy of The James Rose Center,
James Rose Center, Ridgewood, New Jersey
Landscape architect James Rose rejected the Beaux Arts orthodoxy of his time and pioneered a more improvisational, indoor-outdoor approach to design. His Ridgewood, New Jersey home, built in 1953, embodies that philosophy by fusing house and garden into one living space.
The site, which is now a nonprofit center, is one of the few intact examples of Rose’s realized work and continues to function as a living laboratory for sustainable design.
The James Rose Center is at 506 East Ridgewood Avenue, Ridgewood, New Jersey. It has varying hours by season. Details are here.
Manitoga, Garrison
Industrial designer Russel Wright transformed a deforested quarry site in the Hudson Valley into an immersive, sustainable home he called Manitoga, or “place of great spirit” in Algonquin.
His Putnam County residence is built into the rock ledge and uses green roofs, glass walls and natural materials to blend seamlessly with the surroundings. The site includes Wright’s home, studio and gardens, with miles of walking trails and a design gallery showcasing his influential tableware and furnishings.
Manitoga is at 584 NY-9D, Garrison. Public tours end for the season on Nov. 16. Details are here.