The Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum, located in New York City, was established as the Cooper Union Museum in 1897 as part of the Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art. In 1967, this museum of design was transferred to the Smithsonian Institution and relocated to the historic Carnegie Mansion.
Carnegie Mansion, c. 1930sCarnegie Mansion, the home of the Cooper-Hewitt Museum of Decorative Arts and Design in New York City. The sixty-four-room mansion was built by Andrew Carnegie and his wife, Louise Whitfield Carnegie, who wanted a spacious, comfortable, and light-filled home in which to raise their young daughter, Margaret. The house was also planned as a place where Carnegie, after his retirement in 1901, could oversee the philanthropic projects to which he would dedicate the final decades of his life. From his private office in the mansion, Carnegie donated money to build free public libraries in communities across the country and to the improvement of cultural and educational facilities in Scotland and the United StatesThe mansion was designed in the Georgian style by the architectural firm of Babb, Cook & Willard, and completed in 1901. The property includes a large private garden, a rarity in Manhattan. The house includes many innovative features. It was the first private residence in the U.S. to have a structural steel frame and one of the first in New York to have a residential Otis passenger elevator. The house also had central heating and a precursor to air-conditioning. The building received landmark status in 1974, and in 1976 reopened as Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum, Smithsonian Institution
Metalwork Gallery, Cooper Union Museum, c. 1945George G. Raddin of the Cooper Union Museum for the Arts of Decoration's Department of Humanities shows a class historic iron grillwork in the Metalwork Gallery. The Cooper Union Museum was transferred to the Smithsonian Institution July 1, 1968.
Lincoln Chair at the Cooper Union Museum, c. 1945The chair used by Abraham Lincoln the day of his speech to the Cooper Union (1860). It was later displayed on stage in the Great Hall of the Cooper Union Museum for the Arts of Decoration. The chair is shown before it was reupholstered in 1949.
Ironworks Gallery, Cooper Union Museum, 1953The interior of the room displaying ironworks at the Cooper Union Museum for the Arts of Decoration. The Cooper Union Museum was transferred to the Smithsonian July 1, 1968.
Steel Chair Designed by Peter Cooper, c.1953During the 1830's, Peter Cooper designed the first steel chair in America. The chair became part of the collections of the Cooper Union Museum for the Arts of Decoration. Later the Museum was transferred July 1, 1968 to the Smithsonian Institution and became the Cooper-Hewitt Museum (C/H) of Decorative Arts and Design.
"Treasures from the Cooper Union" Exhibit, 1967A display of furniture and art work at the National Collection of Fine Arts, now the Smithsonian American Art Museum, exhibition "Treasures from the Cooper Union" at the National Museum of Natural History, July 13 - September 24, 1967. After the Smithsonian Institution took over the Cooper Union Museum in New York City on 1 July 1968, it was renamed the Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum.
"Please Be Seated" Exhibit, 1968An exhibition of contemporary chairs called "Please Be Seated" presented at the Cooper-Hewitt Museum of Design in conjunction with the Decorative Arts Program of the American Federation of Arts
Interior Room, Renovated Carnegie MansionOrnately carved ceiling in a room in the renovated Carnegie Mansion, New York City, new home of the Cooper-Hewitt Museum of Decorative Arts and Design. The room is set up for the Benefit Auction in March of 1974.
Interior of Renovated Carnegie Mansion, 1974An elaborately decorated room with an organ in the renovated Carnegie Mansion, new home of the Cooper-Hewitt Museum of Decorative Arts and Design.
Interior of Renovated Carnegie Mansion, 1974A room in the renovated Carnegie Mansion, the new home of the Cooper-Hewitt Museum of Decorative Arts and Design, with a large chandelier hanging from the ceiling.
Cooper-Hewitt Museum Entrance, 1974Main entrance (91st Street) to the renovated Carnegie Mansion, new home of the Cooper-Hewitt Museum of Decorative Arts and Design. The museum reopened to the public at its present home in 1976.
Carnegie Mansion Conservatory Under Renovation, c. 1975he conservatory of the Carnegie Mansion, which now houses the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum in New York City, under renovation. The conservatory is constructed of curved glass with a Tiffany glass dome ceiling.
"Man transFORMS" Exhibit, 1976The "Angel Cage," designed by Japanese architect Arata Isozaki, was part of "Man transFORMS: Aspects of Design," the opening exhibition of the Cooper-Hewitt Museum of Decorative Arts and Design (Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum) at its new home in the renovated Carnegie Mansion.
"L'Art de Vivre" Exhibit, 1989This elegant glass table service, on view at "L'Art de Vivre (The Art of Living): Decorative Art and Design, France, 1789-1989" exhibit at the Cooper-Hewitt Museum of Decorative Arts and Design in 1989, was designed by Francois-Eugene Rousseau in the early 1880s. Rousseau was the owner of a glass and ceramics shop in Paris and designed tablewares as well as ornamental works. The molten quality of his glasswares is particularly noteworthy.
"The Power of Maps" Exhibit, 1993Print materials of "The Power of Maps" The exhibition opens at the International Gallery and will last through January 23, 1994. It is an exhibit of more than 200 maps from a variety of time periods and cultures. It was created by the Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum and is the first time a exhibit by the museum is shown on The Mall in Washington, D.C.
Cooper-Hewitt Museum Exterior, c. 2000Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum