TheHoudini Museum of New York is a museum exhibitingmemorabilia related to theescape artist,Harry Houdini. It is located at Fantasma Magic, a retail magic manufacturer.[1][2]
Opened in October 2012,[3] the Houdini Museum of New York contains several hundred pieces ofephemera, most of which belonged to magician and escape artistHarry Houdini. Of the museum's many pieces, Houdini's 1907 escape coffin (in which Houdini was sealed with six-inch nails and subsequently escaped), the "robot" from Houdini's 1919 silent filmThe Master Mystery, and Houdini'sMetamorphosis Trunk are the largest. Other notable pieces include the original bust from Houdini's grave (on loan to the museum from S.A.M. Parent Assembly Number One),Bess Houdini's stage outfit and a large selection of smaller pieces such as Houdini's personal magic and escape props. There are also many items related to Houdini's interest in the debunking ofspiritualists.[4][5] The Houdini memorabilia is said to be worth more than$1 million.[6] and has been variously estimated to have cost "several million".[3]
It is in an unassuming and almost unheralded location, and as such is easily missed.[7] The museum has also been featured as both a point of interest and a background location on several television shows includingABC World News,[8]Fox & Friends,[9]NY1,[10]MTV andGood Day New York.[6]
The museum is owned by Houdini collector Roger Dreyer (also the owner and CEO of Fantasma Magic) and was designed by architect and designerDavid Rockwell.[3][11] It features over 1,500 pieces of "Houdiniana," which portends an "ever changing display."[3][12][13] Dreyer's Houdini collection is the second-largest in the world; the first being the collection of Las Vegas illusionistDavid Copperfield.[3][13]
The House of Houdini. Likewise, in 1919 he rented the cottage[B] at 2435Laurel Canyon Boulevard inLos Angeles, while making movies forLasky Pictures. His wife occupied it for a time after his death. As of 2011 the site of the cottage was a vacant lot and up for sale.[18] The main mansion building itself was rebuilt after it was destroyed in the 1959 Laurel Canyon fire, and is now a historic venue and calledThe Mansion.[19][20] While Houdini did not likely live at the "mansion," there is some probability that his widow did.[21]
University of Texas Library houses Houdini ephemera and a large collection of Houdini letters and manuscripts.[22]
^Notper se a "museum", but it is a private residence with a documented Houdini connection and a lot of his artifacts. It has occasionally been open for guided tours. Not to be confused with the "House of Houdini", this is a former Houdini home, purchased in 1908, at 278 West 113th Street in modern-dayMorningside Heights, Manhattan, that also displays Houdini artifacts.[14][15][16][17][18]
^"Not the home, which was sensationally dubbed "the Houdini mansion" when it burned in 1959, and has been rebuilt using the name "Houdini Estate."[18]
^abcdeOsterhout, Jacob E.; Bachner, Jeff (October 23, 2012)."New York gets first museum on famed magician Harry Houdini".New York Daily News. RetrievedJanuary 7, 2018.Curator Roger Dreyer, head of Fantasma Toys Inc., spent two decades and millions of dollars amassing the second-largest Houdini collection in the world, behind only magician David Copperfield's. But Dreyer had nowhere to display his prized items.
^ab"About Us". Houdini Museum of New York. Archived fromthe original on January 8, 2018. RetrievedJanuary 7, 2018.
^Cox, John (January 17, 2011)."Discovering 278: the home of Houdini".Wild About Harry. RetrievedJanuary 22, 2017.... I certainly knew the famous address -- "278" which is how Houdini always referred to his Harlem home.
