When billionaire oil magnate and philanthropist J. Paul Getty opened the Getty Villa in 1974, he made his vast collection of classical and Renaissance artworks available to the public. While the collection received highly favorable reviews, opinions about the building that housed them were not as enthusiastic. Getty firmly believed that art of the kind in his collection should not be seen in a neutral or modern museum setting but was better served by a building that evoked classical traditions.
To design this museum, he enlisted architects Robert Langdon and Ernest Wilson, in consultation with Stephen Garrett and Norman Neuerburg, and they created a reimagining of the Villa dei Papiri in Herculaneum, a Roman villa buried in the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD. As much of the original villa remains buried, Neuerburg looked to other ancient Roman houses to complete the details of the new design. The result is undeniably grand: a two-story building with a 300-foot peristyle of Doric and Corinthian columns surrounding a landscaped courtyard with a reflecting pool, Roman-style plants, and bronze statues.
Its interior galleries are equally opulent, with fine stone finishes on the walls and gleaming terrazzo floors. Some critics compared the museum to examples of Los Angeles’ grandest mimetic architecture, from Forest Lawn to Disneyland, lamenting its lack of authenticity and retrogressive architectural vision. Others viewed it as an example of populist design, but the public loved it. Many noted the environmental appropriateness of this Mediterranean design for the Southern California coastal location.
Between 1997 and 2006, the Getty Villa underwent a significant renovation by architects Rodolfo Machado and Jorge Silvetti, seeing modifications to its site plan, landscaping, and buildings. The museum houses the archaeological collection, Greek, Roman, and Etruscan art, while the rest of the Getty collection is now at the massive Getty Center in Brentwood.
The Getty Villa museum, located at 17985 Pacific Coast Highway in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood, can be visited every day (except Tuesdays) from 10 am to 5 pm. Admission is free.
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