Dove/Torr Cottage

DOVE/TORR COTTAGE

Arthur Dove and Helen Torr Cottage
Courtesy of Maya Argov

The Dove/Torr Cottage, residence of American modernist artists Arthur Dove and Helen Torr from 1938 to 1946, still stands today. When Dove passed away in 1946, Torr continued to live in the cottage until her death in 1967. The Heckscher Museum of Art is proud to preserve and steward this historic property. The grounds of the Cottage are currently open to the public, located at 30 Centershore Road, Centerport, NY 11721, on the banks of Titus Mill Pond.

Please note that the interior of the Cottage is currently under renovation and is not open to the public. However, visitors to the Museum’s Dove/Torr Cottage Open House event on Saturday, July 13, 2024 (Rain Date: July 14) will have the rare opportunity to see the interior and learn more about the history of the house. More details about this free event coming soon!

Dove/Torr Cottage | 30 Centershore Road, Centerport, NY 11721

History

Arthur Dove and Helen Torr, Halesite, c. 1924. Collection of the Rehm family

We feel this is the loveliest situation we have ever had, and am happy to again sniff the salt water. This small building is directly on the road in front, the water in back.
                — Helen Torr, 1938 letter to her friend Elmira Bier

Arthur Dove (1880–1946) and Helen Torr (1886–1967) created some of their most acclaimed works while living in Huntington in the 1920s, 30s, and 40s. From 1924 to 1933, they resided primarily aboard their 42-foot yawl, the Mona, which they docked in Huntington Harbor. After living for five years in Dove’s hometown of Geneva, NY, they returned to Long Island in 1938. They purchased a 500 square-foot cottage (now known as the Dove/Torr Cottage) on the banks of Titus Mill Pond in Centerport, just three miles from The Heckscher Museum of Art, where they lived for the rest of their lives. 

In late 1998, The Heckscher Museum of Art acquired the Dove/Torr Cottage with the generous assistance of the Times-Mirror Corporation and the New York Department of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation. In 2000, the Dove/Torr Cottage was one of only 20 historic artists’ homes and studios nationwide to be accepted into the Historic Artists’ Homes and Studios Program, administered by the National Trust for Historic Preservation and supported by a grant from the Henry Luce Foundation. In January 2002, the Cottage was named to Save America’s Treasures, a White House Millennium Council initiative focused on “protecting America’s threatened cultural treasures.” National Trust funding and private contributions, including a generous grant from The Stebbins Fund, have allowed The Heckscher Museum to document and trace the evolution of the building from its earliest use (c. 1880—90) as a post office and general store to its later adaptation as a private residence.

The Dove/Torr Cottage is a member of the Historic Artists’ Homes and Studios program (HAHS) of the National Trust for Historic Preservation. HAHS is a national consortium of 55 museums that were formerly the homes and working studios of American artists.

Helen Torr, Aline and Arthur Dove ca. 1942

Outdoor Soundwalk

In November 2023, in celebration of the 25th anniversary of The Heckscher Museum’s acquisition of the Cottage, the Museum unveiled a new outdoor soundwalk on the grounds of the historic property. Visitors can access this self-guided walk through the Museum’s digital guide in Bloomberg Connects, the free arts and culture app. To begin, visit the Cottage property (30 Centershore Road, Centerport, NY) and scan the QR code on the outdoor signage on-site. You can also scan the QR code below or download the app before your visit.

On the soundwalk, visitors will discover the home and studio of modernists Arthur Dove and Helen Torr in new and unique ways. The self-guided soundwalk reveals the story of Torr and explores the sounds of nature around the property that inspired her art. The anniversary celebration also includes a new sculpture, A Vision Against Context, by artist Susan Buroker and inspired by Helen Torr, which is currently on view on the grounds of the Cottage. Learn more about the sculpture.

The audio for this soundwalk was created as part of a community project with Girls Inc. of Long Island and features the voices of participating middle school students who attended a camp during the summer of 2023. Learn more about the community project. 

The Dove/Torr Soundwalk was created with support from a Dorothy C. Radgowski Learning Through Women’s Achievement in the Arts Grant, a joint effort of Where Women Made History (WWMH), and HAHS at the National Trust for Historic Preservation. Special thanks to Susan Buroker, Evangeline Knell, Girls Inc. Long Island, Monica Ortiz-Menier, Helen Keller National Center, and the Heckscher Museum Accessibility Advisory Group for their work on the project. Tactile Maps and Signage were created and installed for this project at Heckscher Park and the Dove/Torr Cottage with generous grant support from the Town of Huntington Environmental Open Space & Park Fund Advisory Committee.

 

Film

This film captures the environment surrounding the Dove/Torr Cottage. Museum Educator Alyssa Matthews created the video from footage she captured at various times of day and in different seasons throughout 2023. Although Dove and Torr lived and worked in the Cottage more than eighty years ago, the film provides a sense of the natural world that inspired their art.

This film is on view in the exhibition Salt Life: Arthur Dove and Helen Torr, November 18, 2023March 10, 2024.

Artwork in the Collection

Helen Torr
Oyster Stakes, 1929
Oil on paperboard
The Heckscher Museum of Art
Gift of Mrs. Mary Rehm

In addition to the Cottage, The Heckscher Museum’s Collection includes important artworks and archival material related to the artists, including their library of art books and their paints and brushes. Many of these works of art and artifacts are part of the exhibition Salt Life: Arthur Dove and Helen Torr, on view November 18, 2023March 10, 2024.

View work by Arthur Dove in the Collection
View work by Helen Torr in the Collection

Selected Exhibitions

EXHIBITIONS

The Heckscher Museum Celebrates 100 Helen-Torr-Oyster-Stakes
Salt Life: Arthur Dove and Helen Torr
November 18, 2023 - March 10, 2024
Helen Torr: 1886-1967
June 3, 1972 - July 9, 1972
Cornucopia: Still Lifes from the Collection David Burliuk Fall Flowers in a Watering Can . 1949.
Cornucopia: Still Lifes from the Collection
May 21, 2016 - August 21, 2016
more exhibitions

Related News

Related News

November 28, 2023
Soundwalks Open at Dove/Torr Cottage and Heckscher Park
February 15, 2020
“Adopt” Masterpieces and Materials from the Arthur Dove Archive
July 18, 2023
Celebrating the Salt Life of Arthur Dove & Helen Torr
more museum news

Select Past Virtual Events

Intimate Coast: Helen Torr’s Huntington
November 9, 2021

Between 1923 and 1933, artist Helen Torr lived and painted alongside her husband Arthur Dove on the water and on the land of the north shore of Long Island. This talk with Art Historian and Lecturer Erin Kimmel considers her idiosyncratic and important output in relation to the ecological and social history of Huntington Harbor.

In coordination with the exhibition The Heckscher Museum Celebrates 100: Tracing History, Inspiring the Future

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