A. Everett Austin House, West Hartford Travel Guide

The A. Everett Austin House, located in Hartford's West End, stands as a testament to the vision of A. Everett “Chick” Austin Jr., director of the Wadsworth Atheneum from 1927 to 1944. Constructed in 1930, the house draws inspiration from the Palladian villas of the Veneto, particularly Vincenzo Scamozzi's Villa Ferretti. Austin's unique reinterpretation resulted in a Neo-Classical Revival structure that is both stately and surreal.The house is notable for its elongated form, measuring 86 feet long but only 18 feet deep. The facade features a central pedimented pavilion flanked by symmetrical wings, adorned with Ionic pilasters. This design creates an illusion of depth, enhanced by the flush boarding and subtle architectural details. Many windows are blind, and decorative balusters evoke a balustrade without forming one.The interior is equally striking, blending 18th-century Rococo style with modern Bauhaus design. The first floor boasts silk-covered walls, gilded furniture, and a Bavarian alcove, while Helen Austin's dressing room upstairs showcases a radically modern aesthetic with a black linoleum floor and tubular steel furniture. During the 1930s, the Austin House was a gathering place for leading figures in the art world, including Salvador Dalí, Gertrude Stein, and George Balanchine.In 1985, Helen Austin and her children donated the house to the Wadsworth Atheneum. Today, it operates as a historic house museum, offering guided tours that provide insights into Austin's life, his influence on the art world, and the house's architectural significance.