Cooper-Hewitt National Museum of Design

1898-1902, Babb, Cook and Willard

1902, George Keister
1920, Henry Whitfield
1928, Almus Pratt Evans
1954, Lews Shulman, Architect
1965, Paul L. Wood, Architect
1992, James Stewart Polshek, Associates

1902, Barney and Chapman
1992, James Steward Polshek, Associates

In 1976 the Cooper-Hewitt Museum opened to the public as a bureau of the Smithsonian Institution. The museum eventually encompassed three buildings in New York City--the Andrew Carnegie Mansion, 9 91st Street and 11 91st Street. In 1898 Andrew Carnegie hired the firm Babb, Cook and Willard to design a home. It was designed with stone and brick, quoined corners and a tall chimney on a rusticated base. The second and third floors exteriors were more subtly articulated. The L-shaped mansion has an entrance on 90th Street rather than Fifth Avenue, with a large surronding garden. The space allocation of the 64-room structure was designed to accomdate personal living quarters, servants quarters and space for Andrew Carnegie's philathropic efforts. It was completed in 1902 and enlarged in 1913 by Henry D. Whitfield, Architect. In the decades of the 1940s to the 1960s the structure was renovated by Edgar I. Williams for the Columbia University School of Social Work. After renovation by the firm Hardy, Holzman, Pfeiffer Associates, the building became the Smithsonian Institution's Cooper-Hewitt Museum. Two other buildings were acquired by the Smithsonian Institution as part of the Cooper-Hewitt Museum: the McAlpin-Miller House at 9 92st Street and the McAlpin-Fox House at 11 91st Street. The McAlipin-Miller House was designed in 1902 by George Keister for George McAlpin. Mrs. Carnegie purchased the house for her daugther, Roswell Miller, as the McAlpin-Miller House. It was altered in 1920 by Henry Whitfield, in 1928 by Almus Pratt Evans, in 1954 by Lewis Shulman, Architect, and in 1965 by Paul L. Wood, Architect. In 1992 James Stewart Polshek, Associates began renovation plans for the McAlpin-Miller House. The McAlpin-Fox House was designed in 1902 by Barney and Chapman, Architects, for William McAlpin. By the 1940s, the interior of the building had been drastically altered to house apartments and offices. In 1992, James Stewart Polshek, Associates also began renovation plans for the McAlpin-Fox House.

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