A. Everett Austin House, Hartford

The A. Everett Austin House, located on Scarborough Street in Hartford, is a striking neo-Palladian landmark and an enduring tribute to one of America’s most influential art advocates. Known affectionately as “Chick” Austin, Arthur Everett Austin Jr. served as director of the Wadsworth Atheneum from 1927 to 1944, a tenure that transformed the institution into a hub of modernist thought and artistic innovation.

Constructed in 1930, the house reflects Austin's fascination with classical Italian architecture, particularly the Palladian villas he encountered during his honeymoon in the Veneto. His design is a personal reinterpretation of Vincenzo Scamozzi's Villa Ferreti (1596), demonstrating a refined understanding of proportion, form, and historical reference.

The house measures 86 feet long by 18 feet deep and resembles a theatrical stage set, with a central pedimented pavilion flanked by symmetrical wings. Its flat façade, defined by flush boarding and Ionic pilasters, creates a striking classical effect despite the building’s modest size.

Subtle play between illusion and function defines its architecture-many windows are blind, and applied decorative balusters evoke a balustrade without actually forming one. The effect is both stately and surreal, marrying historical precision with a modernist eye for drama and restraint.

Following Austin’s move from Hartford in 1946, his wife Helen Goodwin Austin continued to live in the house. In 1985, she and their children gifted the property to the Wadsworth Atheneum. Recognized as a National Historic Landmark in 1994 for both its architecture and its connection to Austin’s legacy, the house now operates as a historic house museum offering guided tours.