Fowler Museum - World Art Behind Brick Arches
Photo: Fuzzy901, CC BY-SA 3.0 (cropped)
A stop on UCLA Campus Walk, a free self-guided tour.
At the top of the steps, just west of Royce Hall, stands the Fowler Museum at UCLA. It opened here in 1992, designed by Arnold C. Savrann and John Carl Warnecke, and its red brick and rounded arches echo the 1929 buildings next door, so the newcomer blends right in.
The museum is older than its building. Chancellor Franklin D. Murphy founded it in 1963, and its first home was the basement of Haines Hall, one of the original four buildings. It grew fast: in 1965 it received about 30,000 objects from the collection of Sir Henry Wellcome, still its largest single gift. Today it holds more than 120,000 art and ethnographic objects from Africa, Asia, the Pacific and the Americas, plus a collection of European and American silver given by the family of Francis E. Fowler Jr., for whom the museum is named.
Admission is free, so if the doors are open it makes an easy side trip; check the museum website for current hours. From outside, notice how the arches frame the entrance.
Getting here: At the top of the steps, turn left; the Fowler is the brick building just north, facing Royce Drive.
Did you know?: Actress Natalie Wood donated a collection of ancient Chupicuaro ceramics from Mexico to the museum in 1969.
Photo op: From across Royce Drive, frame the brick arches of the entrance straight on.
More on Wikipedia: Fowler Museum at UCLA · Henry Wellcome · Franklin David Murphy · Natalie Wood
Stops on this tour
- Royce Hall - Two Towers, Not Twins
- Powell Library - Where Fahrenheit 451 Was Typed
- Inverted Fountain - Where the Water Falls In
- Kerckhoff Hall - A Widow's Gothic Gift
- Ackerman Union - The Campus Living Room
- Bruin Bear - Two Tons of Bronze Mascot
- Pauley Pavilion - The House Wooden Filled
- Wilson Plaza - UCLA's Front Porch
- Janss Steps - 87 Steps and a Legend
- Fowler Museum - World Art Behind Brick Arches
- Murphy Sculpture Garden - Masterpieces Under Jacarandas