J. Paul Getty Trust. Building Program.

The Getty Center opened in 1997 as a multifaceted campus located in Brentwood, California, including modern architecture, gardens, and fountains. The Getty Center is owned and operated by the J. Paul Getty Trust, a cultural and philanthropic organization. The Trust is a not-for-profit institution, educational in purpose and character, that focuses on the visual arts in all of their dimensions. The Center is home to the Trust and its four programs: the Getty Foundation, the Getty Research Institute, the Getty Conservation Institute, and the J. Paul Getty Museum. The Museum and the Conservation Institute also maintain operations at the Getty Villa in Pacific Palisades, the original site of the Museum.

Due to a lack of space at the original J. Paul Getty Museum site the Trust and its program offices were scattered throughout the Los Angeles basin in the 1980s and 1990s. The Trust required a larger and more unified main campus facility to accommodate its growing programs and Museum collection. In 1983 the Trust purchased 750 acres in Brentwood, California and in 1984 the architectural firm Richard Meier & Partners was chosen to design the Getty Center. After three years of design, discussions, and approvals, construction began in 1987 under the guidance of the Dinwiddie Construction Company (which had also built the Getty Villa in the early 1970s). A decade later, and forty-three years after the original J. Paul Getty Museum had opened in Mr. Getty's Ranch House, the Getty Center officially opened to the public on December 17, 1997.

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