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 The main facade of the museum, facingFifth Avenue | |
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| Established | 1923 (1923) |
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| Location | 1220Fifth Avenue New York,NY 10029 U.S. |
| Coordinates | 40°47′33″N73°57′07″W / 40.79250°N 73.95194°W /40.79250; -73.95194 |
| Visitors | 320,000(2019) |
| Founder | Henry Collins Brown |
| Public transit access |  New York City Subway:New York City Bus:M1,M2,M3,M4,M106 buses |
| Website | www |
TheMuseum of the City of New York (MCNY) is ahistory andart museum inManhattan,New York City,New York. It was founded byHenry Collins Brown,[1][2] in 1923[3] to preserve and present thehistory of New York City, and its people. It is located at 1220–1227Fifth Avenue between East103rd to104th Streets, across fromCentral Park on Manhattan'sUpper East Side, at the northern end of theMuseum Mile section of Fifth Avenue.
The red brick with marble trim[4] museum was built in 1929–30[4] and was designed by Joseph H. Freedlander in theneo-Georgian style, with statues ofAlexander Hamilton andDeWitt Clinton by sculptorAdolph Alexander Weinman facing Central Park from niches in the facade.[5]
The museum is a private non-profit organization which receives government support as a member of New York City'sCultural Institutions Group.[6] Its other sources of income are endowments, admission fees, and contributions.[4][7]
The museum was originally located inGracie Mansion, where available space was limited.[3] One of its first major exhibits was "Old New York", presented in theAmerican Fine Arts Building on57th Street in 1926.[8] The success of the project led to a search for a new, permanent headquarters for the museum. A design competition was held between five invited architects,[5] and the Colonial Revival design by Freedlander was selected. The city donated a site on Fifth Avenue, and funds for construction of the museum building were raised by public subscription.[3][9] The original plans for the museum's building were scaled back as a result of theWall Street Crash of 1929, nevertheless, the building was dedicated on January 11, 1932.[3]
On January 24, 1967, the museum building was designated aNew York City landmark.[4]
In 1982, the museum receivedThe Hundred Year Association of New York's Gold Medal Award "in recognition of outstanding contributions to the City of New York."
In 2000, the administration of mayorRudy Giuliani told the museum that it could relocate to the historicTweed Courthouse nearCity Hall in Lower Manhattan.[10]El Museo del Barrio would then have moved across the street to occupy the current Museum of the City of New York building. This decision was overturned by the incoming administration ofMichael Bloomberg, which decided to use the Courthouse as the headquarters for the newNew York City Department of Education, causing MCNY's then-director Robert R. McDonald to resign;[10] he was replaced in 2002 by Susan Henshaw Jones, who was at the time the president of theNational Building Museum inWashington, D.C.[10]
There was also an attempt to merge the museum with theNew-York Historical Society, which did not come to fruition, and the museum was passed over for space at theWorld Trade Center site.[11]
Museum directorSusan Henshaw Jones recommitted MCNY to itsEast Harlem neighborhood by planning an extension to the museum. The groundbreaking for this extension, which included renovation of existing gallery space, as well as a new pavilion, took place on August 2, 2006,[11] and it was completed in February 2008 with aribbon cutting later that same year.
The pavilion gallery, designed by thePolshek Partnership,[5] is 3,000-square-foot (280 m2) glass addition, which has two levels at which to displayartifacts. The original 1932 Georgian Revival building was also restored during this project, and additions were made including a vault for the museum's silver collection, a research room and a room for the handling of artifacts. The total costs for the first phase of refurbishments came toUS$28 million.[12]
In late 2011, the museum temporarily took over operation of theSouth Street Seaport Museum which reopened in January 2012.[13]
The museum's collection of over 1.5 million items[10] – which is particularly strong in objects dating from the 19th and early 20th centuries[3] – includes paintings, drawings, prints, including over 3000 byCurrier and Ives,[3] and photographs featuring New York City and its residents, as well as costumes, decorative objects and furniture, antique toys – the museum was the first in the United States to establish a curatorial department for toys[3] – ship models, rare books and manuscripts, marine and military collections, police and fire collections, and a theater collection which documents the golden age ofBroadway theater. There are alsodioramas about the city's history and its physical environment.[5] The museum also has a collection of originalMarquand and Co. silver from the early 19th century.[14]
Among the rare items in the museum's collection is a chair that once belonged toSarah Rapelje, daughter ofJoris Jansen Rapelje of Nieuw Amsterdam, and said to be thefirst child born in New York State of European parentage.[15] The chair was donated by her Brinckerhoff descendants.
The museum is known for its comprehensive collection of photographic images, which includes works by noted photographersPercy Byron,Jacob Riis andBerenice Abbott, as well as manyDepression-eraFederal Art Project photographs. The collection also includes still photography by film directorStanley Kubrick.[16]
MCNY was also the longtime home to recreations of two furnished rooms from the house ofJohn D. Rockefeller, donated by the Rockefeller family.[3] In 2008, the museum disposed of the rooms, donating one to theMetropolitan Museum of Art and the other to theVirginia Museum of Fine Arts.[17] Notable as well is a model ofNew Amsterdam based on theCastello Plan of 1660.[5]
From October 2004 through July 2009,Perform was the only permanent exhibition in New York City focused on theater in New York. It included objects ranging fromBill "Bojangles" Robinson's tap shoes to advertising materials fromAvenue Q.[18]
Until September 15, 2019, the exhibition "In the Dugout with Jackie Robinson: An Intimate Portrait of a Baseball Legend"[19] was on display. In honor of the centennial of Robinson's birth, the exhibition featured memorabilia, rare footage, and published magazines of the Robinson family.
In February 2020, the exhibit "City/Game: Basketball in New York" opened. The exhibit explored the history of basketball in New York City, including players likeKareem Abdul-Jabbar andBob Douglass.[20]
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40°47′33″N73°57′07″W / 40.79250°N 73.95194°W /40.79250; -73.95194
