(originally Brooklyn Museum of Arts and Sciences) 200 Eastern Parkway Brooklyn, N.Y. 11238 http://www.brooklynmuseum.org |
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| The Brooklyn Museum of Art is part of a complex of nineteenth-century parks and gardens that also includes Prospect Park, the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, and the Prospect Park Zoo. McKim, Mead & White won the 1893 competition for the museum's design, envisioning a monumental Beaux-Arts structure. The original design was meant to house comprehensive collections of art, natural history, and science objects, as well as myriad educational and research activities. The ambitious building plan, had it been fully realized, would have produced the largest single museum structure in the world. During construction, it was decided to raise the main floor by five feet in order to provide space for an auditorium on the basement level of the central section. The altered plans further extended the grand flight of steps—twice the height of the staircase at the Metropolitan Museum in Manhattan—which brought visitors to the third floor. Construction of the wings was delayed, particularly during World War I, and the interiors were not finished until 1926. There was also growing interest in the 1930s in creating a more direct and “democratic” entrance into the Museum. In April 1934, while principals of McKim, Mead & White were out of the country, the Municipal Art Commission quickly approved the demolition of the front steps. Major renovations were proposed during the 1940s and 1950s, but budget shortfalls limited what could be done, and maintenance was deferred. Renovations to the center pavilion and the monumental rotunda included removing all decorative detail, lowering the ceilings, and installing new lighting. The 460-seat Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Auditorium, designed by Arata Isozaki and James Stewart Polshek Partners, was dedicated on April 9, 1991, with ceremonies honoring Mr. and Mrs. Cantor, whose generous gift of $3.5 million made the construction of the auditorium possible. The auditorium provided the first formal gathering place in the Museum since the original theater was converted into the Grand Lobby more than fifty years earlier. On November 30, 1993, the Brooklyn Museum opened renovated gallery space on three floors of the Morris A. and Meyer Schapiro Wing. The redesigned galleries comprise 30,000 square feet in the Museum’s West Wing, the oldest part of the nineteenth-century landmark building originally designed by architects McKim, Mead & White. The third floor contains the Museum’s world-renowned collection of ancient Egyptian art, while the fourth and fifth floors house special exhibitions and an extraordinary collection of Auguste Rodin sculptures. In 2004, the Brooklyn Museum celebrated the opening of a new 15,000-square-foot glass-and-steel entrance pavillion. The $63-million project, designed by Polshek Partnership Architects, provides a new 80,000-square-foot public plaza and outdoor exhibition and performance areas. The Brooklyn Museum of Art was designated in 1966 by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission. |
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