{"nrhp_refnum":"88001527","name":"Austin, Richard, House","other_names":["Ossining Historical Society Museum"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"196 Croton Ave.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Ossining","county":"Westchester County","state":"NY","lat":41.16686664100007,"lon":-73.84571832199998,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1988-09-20","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Community Planning and Development","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A two-and-one-half story frame Gothic Revival suburban house at 196 Croton Avenue in Ossining, Westchester County, New York, built in 1878-1879 for lawyer Richard Austin and now used as a local historical society museum.","why_significant":"The house is an unusually intact example of a picturesque Gothic Revival cottage of the type promoted by Andrew Jackson Downing, retaining nearly all of its original exterior and interior fabric. It also illustrates how railroad-driven growth turned farmland outside Sing Sing into middle-class suburban housing.","narrative":"Built in 1878-1879 on Croton Avenue just outside the village of Sing Sing, now Ossining, this frame house was erected for Richard Austin, a lawyer and real estate investor. He built it on land bought from his father-in-law, a wealthy farmer, in an area that was shifting from farmland to middle-class housing after the railroad reached the village in 1849. The house follows the Gothic Revival cottage model popularized by Andrew Jackson Downing, with a steep central gable, full-width veranda with scroll-sawn brackets, corbelled chimneys, a bay window and heavy moldings around doors and windows. A garage and enlarged rear veranda were added between 1911 and 1930. Inside, the original plan survives, along with the staircase, a fireplace surround, porcelain doorknobs, window locks and early light fixtures. Surrounding infill has changed its setting, but the building remains one of very few suburban houses of its era near Ossining with its historic fabric intact. It now serves as a local historical society museum.","period_of_significance":"1878-1930","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Late Victorian/Gothic (Gothic Revival)","criteria":[],"status_note":"Currently used as a museum (Recreation and Culture/Museum); historically a single dwelling.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:50:44.863857-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NY/88001527.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/88001527/7fb3663b82-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/88001527/7fb3663b82-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Daniel Case","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Richard_Austin_House,_Ossining,_NY.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Daniel Case</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Richard_Austin_House,_Ossining,_NY.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/75322947","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Austin_House","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7323834"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/new-york/westchester-county/austin-richard-house-88001527/"}