J. Paul Getty Museum. Villa Program Coordination.

Administrative History

The Getty Villa, located just off the Pacific Coast Highway in Pacific Palisades, California, operates as a museum and educational center dedicated to the study of the arts and cultures of ancient Greece, Rome, and Etruria. The Getty Villa was designed to house J. Paul Getty's art collection when it outgrew his Ranch House, which had served as a private museum since 1954. After considering various options for expanding the Ranch House, Getty decided in the fall of 1968 to build a new museum on the same property, in the form of a first-century Roman country house, based primarily on the plans of the ancient Villa dei Papiri just outside of Herculaneum. The archaeologist Norman Neuerburg, who had studied the ruins of Herculaneum and was an authority on Roman domestic architecture, was retained as a consultant for the project. The Santa Monica architectural firm Langdon & Wilson was hired to design the Villa, and British architect Stephen Garrett, who had served as Getty's consultant in the remodeling of a Getty home in Posillipo, Italy, was retained as overseer of the construction. Landscape architect Emmet Wemple designed the gardens, Garth Benton worked on the murals, and Bruce Ptolomy worked on the fountains. The construction itself was done by Dinwiddie Construction Co., with various subcontractors. Construction began on December 21, 1970, and the new museum opened to the public on January 16, 1974.

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