Historic Artists' Homes and Studios Welcomes 13 New Member Sites During National Preservation Month

Historic Artists' Homes and Studios (HAHS), a program of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, today announced the addition of 13 new member sites to its coalition, comprising six full members and seven affiliate members. The announcement, timed to coincide with National Preservation Month, brings the total number of HAHS member sites to 93, spanning 32 states.

As a peer-to-peer coalition of museums, HAHS brings together sites that were the homes and working studios of significant American artists, leveraging collective experience in historic preservation, visitor programming, and community engagement. Full membership reflects sites with an established record of public operation, preservation stewardship, and interpretive programming. The Affiliate category, created in 2022, broadens pathways for entrance into the program for sites that may be earlier phases of operation as a public site, or do not follow traditional models of preservation, interpretation, or visitation.

The 2026 class reflects the breadth and depth of American artistic practice across more than two centuries. The new sites span the South, Northeast, West, and Southwest, and represent painting, sculpture, ceramics, and furniture making. These additions deepen a coalition that continues to grow in geographic reach, cultural representation, and artistic range.

"Each new member of the HAHS coalition brings a distinct story of place and artistic practice, and this class is no exception," said Valerie Balint, Director of Historic Artists' Homes and Studios. "These thirteen sites span centuries of American creative life, from the Arts and Crafts movement to mid-century modernism to contemporary land art, and together they deepen our understanding of the many forms artistic innovation can take. We are proud to welcome them into a community that is dedicated to amplifying all the ways in which a place can tell us about the artist and the work created there."

Incoming Full Members

• Beatrice Wood Center for the Arts, Ojai, CA. The Beatrice Wood Center for the Arts preserves the studio and legacy of Beatrice Wood (1893-1998), one of the 20th century's most original ceramicists, who lived and worked in Ojai's Happy Valley until her death at age 105. Wood was a central figure in the New York Dada movement before relocating to California, where her luminous lusterware glazes earned her recognition as a California Living Treasure and an Esteemed American Artist by the Smithsonian Institution. Her studio remains intact, and the center continues to present exhibitions, workshops, and programs drawing on her artistic and philosophical legacy.
• Charles & Ray Eames Foundation, Los Angeles, CA. The Eames House, also known as Case Study House No. 8, was designed and built in 1949 by Charles Eames (1907-1978) and Ray Eames (1912-1988) as their home and studio. A National Historic Landmark and one of the most celebrated works of postwar architecture in the world, the house embodies the couple's pioneering approach to design using prefabricated, industrial materials. The Charles & Ray Eames Foundation is dedicated to preserving the house for future generations, while stewarding the Eames' broader legacy across design, architecture, and culture.
• Ilan-Lael: James Hubbell Home and Studio, Julian, CA. Ilan-Lael is the hand-built compound of artist James Hubbell (1931-2024), a visionary sculptor, painter, and designer whose organic architecture and intricate mosaics, stained glass, and ironwork have graced hundreds of public and private spaces in Southern California and around the Pacific Rim. Over more than six decades, Hubbell and his wife Anne constructed thirteen structures on ten acres of oak woodland in the mountains east of San Diego, creating an environment that bridges the boundaries between art, architecture, and nature. The Ilan-Lael Foundation continues to steward the property and offer educational programs in his spirit.
• Bonnet House, Fort Lauderdale, FL. Built beginning in 1920, Bonnet House was the winter retreat of Chicago artists Frederic Clay Bartlett (1873-1953) and his wife Evelyn Fortune Bartlett (1878-1997), both of whom filled the estate with their own paintings and an eclectic collection of objects gathered from travels around the world. Frederic, a graduate of Munich's Royal Academy of Fine Art, designed the whimsical plantation-style home himself and painted murals throughout its interiors. The 35-acre estate on Fort Lauderdale Beach is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and operates today as a museum and gardens.
• The Stickley Museum at Craftsman Farms, Morris Plains, NJ. Craftsman Farms was designed and built between 1908 and 1917 by Gustav Stickley (1858-1942), the defining figure of the American Arts and Crafts movement and the creator of the iconic Craftsman furniture style. The centerpiece of the 30-acre National Historic Landmark is Stickley's Log House, constructed from American chestnut and local stone, cedar shingle, and clay roof tiles; it remains the most complete expression of his philosophy of building in harmony with the natural environment. The Stickley Museum at Craftsman Farms preserves the site with collections of original Craftsman furniture, textiles, ceramics, and metalwork.
• Opus 40, Saugerties, NY. Opus 40 is a monumental earthwork sculpture created by Harvey Fite (1903-1976) out of an abandoned bluestone quarry in the Hudson Valley. Inspired by Mayan dry-stone construction techniques learned on his travels, Fite worked alone over 37 years, fitting together hundreds of thousands of stones, using no mortar or cement. The result is 6.5 acres of interlocking terraces, ramps, and platforms crowned by a nine-ton monolith left incomplete after his accidental death in 1976. Opus 40 is now recognized as a landmark of American Land Art and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Incoming Affiliate Members

• Carl Schmitt Foundation, Wilton, CT. The Carl Schmitt Foundation preserves the former home and studio of American painter Carl Schmitt (1889-1989), located in the historic Silvermine arts community of Wilton, Connecticut. Schmitt was one of the founding members of the Silvermine Guild of Artists and a painter of extraordinary range, from still lives and portraits to religious works, who exhibited at Carnegie International, the Art Institute of Chicago, and the Brooklyn Museum over a career spanning most of the twentieth century. The foundation's studio-gallery holds collections of his paintings, etchings, pastels, and extensive writings on art and aesthetics.
• Thomas Day Historic Site, Milton, NC. The Thomas Day Historic Site preserves the home and workshop of Thomas Day (c. 1801-1861), a free Black master cabinetmaker who established his business in Milton, North Carolina in the 1820s and became, by 1850, the largest furniture maker in the state. Day's distinctive work, which combines Greek Revival, Gothic, and Italianate influences with elements reflecting his own cultural heritage, can be found in historic homes and churches throughout the Virginia and North Carolina Piedmont. Thomas Day Historic Site tells the story of Day's life and craftsmanship within the broader history of free Black life in the antebellum South, as a part of the larger constellation of North Carolina Historic Sites.
• John James Audubon Center at Mill Grove, Audubon, PA. Mill Grove is a National Historic Landmark and the first American home of painter and naturalist John James Audubon (1785-1851), who arrived at the 175-acre Pennsylvania estate in 1803 and spent his formative years there observing and sketching birds along the Perkiomen Creek. It was at Mill Grove that Audubon developed the methods that would eventually produce The Birds of America, his landmark illustrated work. The property is managed today by Audubon Mid-Atlantic as a museum, wildlife sanctuary, and conservation action center.
• Richard Schmid Foundation, Walpole, NH. The Richard Schmid Fine Art Foundation preserves the home and legacy of American master painter Richard Schmid (1934-2021), who lived and worked in Walpole, New Hampshire with his wife, artist Nancy Guzik, and whose influence on contemporary realist painting has been felt worldwide. Schmid was the recipient of virtually every major award in American art, including the John Singer Sargent Medal for Lifetime Achievement, and his instructional books, particularly Alla Prima, became canonical texts for painters across generations. The foundation stewards his artwork and archives, presents curated exhibitions, and continues his belief that art has the power to do good.
• Randall Davey Audubon Center and Sanctuary, Santa Fe, NM. The Randall Davey Audubon Center and Sanctuary encompass 135 acres of canyon landscape on the edge of Santa Fe, centered on the home and studio of painter Randall Davey (1887-1964), a leading figure of the Santa Fe Art Colony. In 1920, Davey converted an 1847 Army sawmill into his studio and residence, living and working there for the next four decades as a portrait, landscape, and equestrian painter in the modern realist tradition. The property, gifted to the National Audubon Society in 1983 and listed on the National Register of Historic Places, functions today as both a wildlife sanctuary and an artists' site, with docent tours of the preserved house and studio.
• Elizabeth Strong-Cuevas Foundation, East Hampton, NY. The Elizabeth Strong-Cuevas Foundation preserves the studio and legacy of sculptor Elizabeth Strong-Cuevas (1929-2023), a French-born American artist known for her monumental stainless steel and bronze sculptures that draw on ancient Egyptian, Aztec, and Mayan forms. Working from her studio in Amagansett, Strong-Cuevas created large-scale works held in the permanent collections of Grounds for Sculpture, the Guild Hall of East Hampton, the Bruce Museum, and other institutions, and her work was the subject of two monographs published by Abrams. The foundation continues to steward her studio, archives, and the body of work she created over six decades.
• Vermont Village, Harpo Foundation, South Royalton, VT. Vermont Village: A Conversation between Art, Water and the Land is a singular artist-built environment created by sculptor and educator Ed Levine (1935-2020) over three decades on a ten-acre property in rural Vermont. Deeply inspired by Thoreau, Levine constructed more than fifty site-specific wooden structures that exist between sculpture and architecture, exploring humanity's relationship to the natural world. Harpo Foundation, which Levine established in 2006 to support under-recognized visual artists, now stewards the property and operates the Back River Road Residency program there.