Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum is the only museum in the nation devoted exclusively to historic and contemporary design. Cooper Hewitt educates, inspires, and empowers people through design by presenting exhibitions and educational programs and maintaining active publications. The Museum is housed in the former home of industrial magnate Andrew Carnegie. Completed in 1901, it was the first private residence in the United States to have a structural steel frame and one of the first in New York to have a residential Otis passenger elevator. The building received landmark status in 1974, and became part of the Smithsonian in 1976. The transformation of the Carnegie Mansion, completed in 2014, respects the spirit and character of the landmark building, restoring key elements to the original grandeur while providing much-needed upgrades to lighting and signage; more flexibility to reduce installation time and better accommodate object handling; and above all, enhanced public access on every level.
Its modern steel-frame construction and its spacious landscaped garden; and in its technology, with multiple electric elevators, a fully electrified laundry, and an extremely sophisticated air conditioning system capable of heating, cooling, and humidifying individual rooms
Arthur Ross Terrace & Garden panorama, May 2016
Arthur Ross Terrace and Garden in the summer
When it was built, its location was far from what was then fashionable New York
It acted as a catalyst for development, giving rise to the neighborhood known as Carnegie Hill;
The LGBTQIA+ Pride flag
Durable materials and plantings that can withstand high traffic and climate fluctuations.
Striped walkway of the Color Factory Manhattan Color Walk to experience the colors and stories that bring New York City to life, 2018
Great Hall
Great Hall
MAN transFORMs Exhibit
Nature by Design exhibit, 2021
The Virtue in Vice exhibition, 2017
Exhibits
By the people - Designing a better America exhibitions, 2016
Joris Laarman Lab: Design in the Digital Age Exhibit, 2017
Tools- Extending Our Reach exhibition, 2014
Luce Study Center, 1998
The Arthur Ross Reading Room in the Smithsonian Design Library, 2012, in the former Fox House.
Carved corbels in the teak room. The differing tones of teak in the room indicate that designer Lockwood de Forest likely used teak from both India and Burma.
The ceiling of Carnegie’s library
Lockwood de Forest created stencils for wall and ceiling decorations
The reception room features a stained-glass tympanum window attributed to Louis Comfort Tiffany
The ceiling of the reception room, with elaborate plaster decoration
The Pen, a visitor technology that emphasized play and spoke to the specificities of a design museum, introduced in 2014
Wallpaper Immersion Room, 2014
current Drawings and documents
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Map of the Upper East Side of Manhattan, 1911. Orange regions represent buildings occupied by the Carnegie family while orange shaded regions represent lots purchased by Carnegie.
Rendering of the Agnes Bourne Bridge Gallery, 1998
2014 - Renovation
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2014 - Renovation - Images
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Entrance
Conservatory
Exhibits
Restored wood staircase
The great hall
1902 - Constructed
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1902 - Constructed - Images
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The fourth-floor hall as it appeared in the 1940s
Martha “Mattie” Clarke, born in Dundee, Scotland, standing outside the mansion’s service entrance, ca. 1926. She began to work for the Carnegies first at Skibo around 1911
The reception room, open to the garden, 1938
Carnegie’s personal library
Cast-iron hot-water boilers made up a system for heating the conservatory and the gardener’s cellar underneath it
The twin Babcock & Wilcox boilers were each capable of carrying 200 pounds of steam pressure. Carnegie ordered doubles of all systems to provide backup or auxiliary service
The family library, 1938
Carnegie Mansion, 1903
Class of the Womans Art School studying the museum’s collection, 1900
Earlier exhibits
1902 - Constructed - Drawings and documents
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Babb, Cook & Willard’s design for the ceiling of Carnegie’s personal library
Carnegie Mansion Basement Plan, 1901
Carnegie Mansion Ground Floor Plan, 1901
Carnegie Mansion First Floor Plan, 1901
Carnegie Mansion Second Floor Plan, 1901
Carnegie Mansion Third Floor Plan, 1901
Carnegie Mansion Fourth Floor Plan, 1901
Babb, Cook & Willard’s competition drawings were first unveiled to the public in the Architectural Record of July 1899
Cooper Union foundation building. Painting by Thomas Coke Ruckle in 1861.
Richard Schermerhorn’s design for the Carnegie garden, 1901
Hewitt Sisters : Sarah Hewitt (ca. 1890–92) and Eleanor Hewitt (ca. 1888)