Brooklyn Museum
Opened in 1897, the Brooklyn Museum building is a steel frame structure – built to the standards of classical masonry – designed by the famous architectural firm of McKim, Mead, and White and built by the Carlin Construction Company. Daniel Chester French, the noted sculptor of the Lincoln Memorial, was the sculptor of two allegorical figures, Brooklyn and Manhattan (carved in 1916, and relocated to the museum in 1963), and of the figures on the pediment.
The Brooklyn Museum changed its name to Brooklyn Museum of Art in 1997. On March 12, 2004, the museum announced that it would revert to its previous name.
The Brooklyn Museum, located at 200 Eastern Parkway, in the New York City borough of Brooklyn, is the second-largest art museum in New York City, and one of the largest in the United States. Arnold L. Lehman is the museum’s Director.
One of the premier art institutions in the world, its permanent collection includes more than one-and-a-half million objects, from ancient Egyptian masterpieces to contemporary art, and the art of many other cultures. Housed in a 560,000 square foot Beaux-Arts building, approximately 500,000 patrons visit the museum each year. Located in Central Brooklyn, the museum is a half-hour from midtown Manhattan and about 15 minutes from downtown Brooklyn. It is served by the Eastern Parkway-Brooklyn Museum subway station on the IRT Eastern Parkway Line and the nearby Botanic Garden station of the Franklin Avenue Shuttle.
The Museum is located on Eastern Parkway, at Washington Avenue. It is co-located with the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, Mount Prospect Park, and the Central Branch of the Brooklyn Public Library. The museum sits at the border of the Prospect Heights, Crown Heights, and Flatbush neighborhoods. It is near Brooklyn’s Prospect Park.