Gloria Steinem’s New York City brownstone has been famously known as a hub for feminist organizers and activists across a swath of movements, with a history of remarkable gatherings held between its elegantly decorated walls. As activists push to preserve the iconic home after Steinem’s death this week, many are curious about what’s inside.
Nonprofit Gloria’s Foundation has said that the three-story New York City home will stand as a permanent place for political gathering and organizing. Steinem, who died on Sept. 2, passed away in the residence, “surrounded by some of the many who loved her,” according to the Instagram post on her official page.
In an installment of Architectural Digest’s “Open Door” series, Steinem gave viewers a glimpse into the storied apartment that she considered her sanctuary. And it turns out, the home was a treasure trove of historic memorabilia.
“Home means safety, shelter, friends, sleep,” she told the outlet in the 2024 house tour. “Home — I don’t want to say it’s more important than love — but it’s more permanent. And I feel that especially now, because there are so many people in the world who have no home.”
Steinem’s 1880s brownstone sits in Manhattan’s Upper East Side. Her space is an amalgamation of several apartment units in the building. And over the years, Steinem told AD, the space hosted leaders and prominent artists from Wilma Mankiller, the first woman elected Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation, to novelist Alice Walker, the first African-American woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.
The journalist and activist first rented the parlor floor with friend and artist Barbara Nessim in 1968, before expanding. During the house tour, Steinem showed viewers the space that she initially shared with Nessim. The two lived between two rooms and created additional sleep space by putting a bed onto a loft that they built. The loft is still there to this day.
“We built this balcony, which actually is the front porch of some unknown person in Connecticut, and was in a wrecking yard,” she recalled to AD. “So whoever got in first got the balcony, and whoever got in second got the couch in the other room.”
Steinem’s living room was the site of many iconic gatherings. That area, she showed the outlet, includes cozy plush sofas and walls covered in artwork. Among the pieces Steinem owns is a still-life painting by her mother in addition to a piece depicting Barack Obama’s inauguration.
She also pointed out a “Madonna I bought on a trip to Latin America, because she was the only Madonna of color,” she told the outlet.
While she only had a small kitchenette when she first moved in, Steinem revealed that she has since added a larger kitchen to the home — though she doesn’t necessarily use it.
“My idea of cooking is dialing,” she said, alluding to a habit of ordering takeout.
The feminist icon’s bedroom, once her shared workspace with Nessim, includes high ceilings, built-in bookcases and a library ladder. Nightstands flank Steinem’s bed. And one of the lamps, she shows in the video, is topped with tassels that have a unique story.
“Their origin was women who were working in a factory in Afghanistan, and their bosses made them cut their hair off because they thought it was a safety hazard to get their hair, you know, caught in the machinery,” Steinem said. “They meanwhile missed the whole feeling, as we can understand, of having hair that you could toss back, and so they created their own kind of headpiece with something they also could toss back.”
The guest room is just as vibrant, filled with books, artwork and its own bathroom. Steinem said that it was her way of providing lodging to movement workers when they needed it.
“I always wanted to have space for people who were visiting New York, so it allowed me to create what is often a guest room downstairs. Meanwhile, organizers, workers, political people, friends, whoever it is, need to pass through New York,” she said. “So it always seemed right to be able to contribute at least a guest room for one or two people with its own bath.”
There’s also an outdoor space, Steinem showed AD. The garden includes several highlights, such as a plaque dedicated to Mary Wollstonecraft, the 18th century English writer and philosopher whose work “A Vindication of the Rights of Woman” is largely considered a cornerstone of classic feminism.
“In my garden, I have a Mary Wollstonecraft plaque, which reminds me that various current living generations of women, who are trying to democratize a patriarchy, can identify with their courage when they had not even a separate legal identity from daughters or wives, could not vote,” Steinem said. “It’s definitely an inspiration.”
The Instagram post on Steinem’s official Instagram requests that, in lieu of sending flowers, fans can make donations to Gloria’s Foundation, which is spearheading the preservation of the home.