The Morgan Library & Museum at 225 Madison Avenue began as J. P. Morgan's private library. Charles Follen McKim of McKim, Mead & White designed it in the Classical Revival style, drawing partly on the Villa Giulia. It was built from 1902 to 1906, and the facade is pinkish-gray Tennessee marble laid dry, with no mortar joints, and tinfoil sheeting between blocks. A solid bronze fence stands in front.
Morgan's son made it a public institution in 1924, and Benjamin Wistar Morris added an annex in 1927 and 1928. A glass conservatory by Voorsanger and Mills opened in 1991.
Renzo Piano and Beyer Blinder Belle designed a $106 million expansion, and the museum reopened on April 29, 2006. It holds more than 350,000 objects, including over 1,100 illuminated manuscripts.
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