The Buildings of the Academy

The Administration Building on West 155 Street was designed by William Mitchell Kendall from the firm McKim, Mead & White, and was completed in 1923. It houses the executive offices, members’ room, portrait gallery, library, and several exhibition galleries, including the south gallery. The adjoining building across the terrace contains the north gallery, a large sky-lit exhibition space, and a 730-seat auditorium where the Academy holds its annual Ceremonial. This building was designed by Cass Gilbert and completed in 1930.

The third building is the former headquarters of the American Numismatic Society. It was purchased by the Academy in 2005 to expand its galleries, archives, library, and offices. The east wing of the building, one of the first structures built on Audubon Terrace, was completed in 1907. It was designed by Charles Pratt Huntington, the same architect who designed the Hispanic Society, Geographical Society, and Museum of the American Indian, all of which originally occupied the Terrace. The west wing of the building was completed in 1930. In 2008, a glass connection will be completed that will bridge the Administration Building's third-floor galleries with those of the former Numismatic Society.

Bronze doors designed by Academician Herbert Adams lead from Audubon Terrace to the Academy's north and south galleries. These doors were installed in 1930 and depict classical figures that represent Arts, Letters, Poetry, Music, Painting, Sculpture, Inspiration, and Drama. The bronze doors at the 155 Street entrance to the Administration building were designed by the Academician Adolph A. Weinman and installed in 1938. They are dedicated to the novelist Mary E. Wilkins Freeman, one of the Academy's first female members, and to the women writers of America.