Opened in 1997, the Getty Center crowns a hilltop in the Santa Monica Mountains above Los Angeles. Designed by Richard Meier, the $1.3 billion campus houses the J. Paul Getty Museum along with the Getty's research and conservation institutes.
Visitors leave their cars at the bottom of the hill and ride a cable-pulled people mover to the top. There, a group of pavilions spreads across terraces, built of concrete and steel and clad in pale travertine or aluminum. Meier laid the campus out on two grids, turned 22.5 degrees apart to follow the hill's two ridges, and built most walls and floors from 30-inch squares.
The collection ranges from European paintings, including Van Gogh's Irises, to photographs from the 1830s to today. The Central Garden by the artist Robert Irwin and the sweeping views over the city draw about 1.8 million visitors a year. The center plans to close for renovations from March 2027 to spring 2028.
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