American Museum of Natural History (New York City, New York)

www.amnh.org/

5-story museum originally completed in 1877. Designed by a variety of architects, the various buildings were added to the original Building 1 (the south transept) over the years. Today the museum collections contain over 33 million specimens of plants, animals, fossils, minerals, rocks, meteorites, human remains, and human cultural artifacts, of which only a small fraction can be displayed at any given time, and occupies more than 2 million square feet.

Before construction of the present complex, the museum was housed in the Arsenal building in Central Park. In 1874 the cornerstone was laid for the museum's first building, which is now hidden from view by the many buildings in the complex. The first building was designed by Calvert Vaux & Jacob Wrey Mould in a Victorian Gothic style. The original building was soon eclipsed by the south range of the museum, designed by J. Cleaveland Cady of Cady, Berg, & See, each brownstone building built in the Romanesque-revival style, and completed between 1891 and 1899. It extends 700 feet along West 77th Street, with corner towers 150 feet tall. The entrance on Central Park West, called the Theodore Roosevelt Memorial Building, was completed in 1939 in a Neo-Classical style, designed by John Russell Pope and Trowbridge & Livingston. The entrance here leads to a vast Roman basilica, where the skeleton of a rearing Barosaurus defending her young from an Allosaurus.

The architect Kevin Roche and his firm Roche-Dinkeloo have been responsible for the master planning of the museum since the 1990s. At the north end, the old Hayden Planetrium (dating from 1935) was closed in 1997 and was replaced in 2000 by the Frederick Phineas & Sandra Priest Rose Center For Earth And Space, designed by James Polshek and Todd Schliemann. The modern building consists of a 6-story glass cube enclosing the 87-foot illuminated Hayden Sphere, which appears to float, although it is actually supported by truss work. Adjacent to the west is the Arthur Ross Terrace, which was built over a new parking garage.

The newest addition is the Richard Gilder Center for Science, Education, and Innovation, opening in 2020. Designed by Studio Gang, it is a dramatic departure from the classic forms of the rest of the museum (excepting the Rose Center), with organic, undulating surfaces in white stone and glass. It provides a new west entrance to the museum on Columbus Avenue, and connects many of the existing buildings. The museum is situated in a 17-acre park known as Theodore Roosevelt Park, which extends from Central Park West to Columbus Avenue, and from West 77th Street to West 81st Street. Theodore Roosevelt Park contains park benches, gardens, and lawns.

The Museum was founded in 1869. Theodore Roosevelt, Sr., the father of the 26th US President, Theodore Roosevelt, was one of the founders. On October 29, 1964, of the Star of India along with several other precious gems, including the Eagle Diamond and the de Long Ruby were stolen from the museum by several thieves including Jack Murphy, who gained entrance by climbing through a bathroom window they had unlocked hours before the museum was closed. The Star of India and other gems were later recovered from a locker in a Miami bus station, but the Eagle Diamond seems to have been re-cut and lost.

Famous names associated with AMNH have been the paleontologist and geologist Henry Fairfield Osborn, president for many years; the dinosaur-hunter of the Gobi Desert, Roy Chapman Andrews (one of the inspirations for Indiana Jones), George Gaylord Simpson, biologist Ernst Mayr, pioneer cultural anthropologists, Franz Boas and Margaret Mead and ornithologist Robert Cushman Murphy. J. P. Morgan was among famous benefactors of the Museum.

Filming location for museum exteriors for the movie "A Night at the Museum" and the sequel.

Categories: museum, NRHP - National Register of Historic Places, movie / film / TV location, 1877_construction, natural history museum