{"nrhp_refnum":"86003556","name":"Metropolitan Museum of Art","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"Fifth Ave. at Eighty-second St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"New York","county":"Manhattan","state":"NY","lat":40.77943156250004,"lon":-73.96338054715692,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1986-06-24","is_nhl":true,"nhl_designated_date":"1986-06-24","areas_of_significance":["Art","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["national"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"The Metropolitan Museum of Art is a large museum building complex on Fifth Avenue at 82nd Street in Manhattan, on the east side of Central Park. Construction began in 1874 and has continued in stages for over a century, with work by several architects.","why_significant":"The nomination argues that the museum is one of New York's most monumental public buildings and among the most prestigious museums in the world. Its Fifth Avenue facade and Great Hall, by Richard Morris Hunt, are described as an outstanding example of the American Renaissance and Beaux Arts Classicism, and became a prototype for museums across the country. The form also stresses the building's long, multi-architect expansion.","narrative":"Fronting Central Park on Fifth Avenue at 82nd Street, the Metropolitan Museum of Art is a sprawling complex of fifteen units built over more than a century. The first section, designed by Calvert Vaux and Jacob Wrey Mould in Victorian Gothic style, was begun in 1874 and finished in 1880. Later wings by Theodore Weston and Arthur Tuckerman followed. In the 1890s Richard Morris Hunt was hired to plan a new Roman-style front, and his Fifth Avenue facade and Great Hall opened in 1902, with interiors completed by his son Richard Howland Hunt after Hunt's death in 1895. McKim, Mead, and White then added north and south wings between 1904 and 1926, and the American Wing incorporated the facade of the old Assay Office from Wall Street. Kevin Roche and John Dinkeloo designed the latest additions. The building is recognized for its architecture, its collections and its influence on American museum design.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":"Vaux & Mould, Richard M. Hunt, McKim, Mead, and White; Roche & Dinkeloo","architectural_style":"Victorian Gothic original building, with Roman/Neoclassic and Beaux Arts Classicism in later wings","criteria":[],"status_note":"Listed as occupied, in excellent condition, altered, and on its original site; in use as a museum and owned by the City of New York.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:50:40.116007-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NY/86003556_NHL.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/86003556/dded7106c9-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/86003556/dded7106c9-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 2.0","author":"Hugo Schneider","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Metropolitan_Museum_of_Art_(The_Met)_-_Central_Park,_NYC.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Hugo Schneider</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 2.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Metropolitan_Museum_of_Art_(The_Met)_-_Central_Park,_NYC.jpg"},"district":{"nrhp_refnum":"66000538","name":"Central Park","url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/districts/new-york/central-park-66000538/"},"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/75315848","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Met_Fifth_Avenue","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q89503830"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/new-york/manhattan/metropolitan-museum-of-art-86003556/"}