The Long Beach Art Museum
2300 East Ocean Boulevard
Long Beach, CA
Long Beach, California -- Perched on a hill top overlooking the Long Beach Harbor is an historic house which is the home of Long Beach's beloved Art Museum on Ocean Blvd.
The museum has experienced numerous transitions from its beginnings but always continues to move forward, serving the public both as a delightful attraction and wonderful venue for special events.
The exhibits are easy to absorb due to the size of the
building that houses them on three floors (basement space is
rather small).
A great portion of the charm in visiting the Museum of Art
is the location and the facilities, themselves. Using the
natural materials and rugged texture of wood shingles and
clinker brick, the building is a classic example of the
California Craftsman Bungalow. Notice the prominent gables,
projecting rafter beams typical of the style. The exterior
of the main house and carriage house retain their original
integrity and have not been altered. This style is echoed by
several similar homes nearby in the Bluff Park Historic
District.
In 1912 wealthy philanthropist Elizabeth Milbank Anderson
sought a summer home and had the house built to serve her
needs. Below her house is a beach that she might have
enjoyed. She was heir to financier Jeremiah Milbank,
who co-founded Borden Company, and Chicago, Milwaukee and
St. Paul Railroad in 1863. That rail line later extended to
the Pacific Coast.
Long Beach Museum of Art is located on a bluff-top
overlooking Long Beach Harbor and the Pacific Ocean along
the elegant Ocean Avenue. The museum includes a "campus"
with the historic Elizabeth Milbank Anderson house and
carriage house (built in 1912), used as administrative
offices, the Museum Store and Café. Oceanfront gardens and a
pavilion with two floors of expansive gallery space for
changing exhibitions are open to the public for viewing
current exhibitions and renting meeting space for special
events. In addition to changing exhibitions, the Museum
offers extensive educational programs for children and
adults, musical programs, festivals, and other special
events.
According to Fortune magazine, "A number of Milbanks have
been considerable figures in the industrial history of the
U.S. and the family has also left its mark on the
educational and medical institutions of the country." (May
1959) Elizabeth Milbank Anderson (1850-1921) was an
energetic, strong-minded woman with a wide range of
interests. She was a successful businesswoman, a
philanthropist, and an art collector who traveled frequently
to Europe. She established Milbank Memorial Fund in 1905,
which gave grants to various medical and educational
projects; this fund is still in existence. She donated a
library to Greenwich, Connecticut, and gave three blocks of
choice New York City land to Barnard College, upon which was
built Milbank Hall. She built public facilities for the
poor, such as a sports arena and public baths, and
established a program of free school lunches. Her husband,
Abram A. Anderson, was a well-known portrait painter and
friend of Teddy Roosevelt.
This large house was built on the bluff to take advantage of
one of the City's prime assets - the ocean view. The house
is a splendid and imposing example of the Craftsman
Bungalow, a style popular in the period 1905 - 1915. It is
similar to others of that style built around the same time
near the ocean bluff along Ocean Boulevard and First and
Second Streets in what is now the Bluff Park Historic
District, and thus represents an early stage in the
residential development of Long Beach. Later, in 1926, the
home became the Club California Casa Real, an important
social institution of Long Beach. It was owned from 1929 -
1944 by Thomas A. O'Donnell, a pioneer oil industrialist.
During the Second World War, it was used by the Navy as the
Chief Petty Officers' Club. In 1950, it was purchased by the
City for a Municipal Art Center and was renamed in 1957 as
the Long Beach Museum of Art. Thus, its succession of uses
has mirrored important stages in the history of the City.
The Milwaukee Building Company was an influential
architectural firm which did other work for the Milbank
family and associates. Isaac Milbank, a co-founder of the
Borden Milk Company and an oil investor, had a magnificent
Craftsman summer home constructed for him in 1911 by the
Milwaukee Building Company on a bluff overlooking the ocean
in Santa Monica. At the same time, the Milwaukee Building
Company constructed a similar home on the same street in
Santa Monica for retired hotel proprietor Henry Weaver, who
owned several Midwest hotels.
The Milwaukee Building Company later became the Los Angeles
firm of Meyer & Holler, an eminent firm which constructed
numerous landmark buildings. Their most famous designs were
the Chinese and Egyptian Theaters in Hollywood. In Long
Beach, they designed the Ocean Center Building, Walkers
Department Store and the Fox West Coast Theater
(demolished). Source: City of Long Beach
Museum of Latin American Art
628 Alamitos Ave., Long Beach 90802 Info: 562/437-1689
Long Beach Museum of Art
2300 E. Ocean Blvd., Long Beach 90803 Info: 562/439-2119.
Long Beach Museum of Art Video Annex
5373 E. Second St., Long Beach 90803 Info: 562/439-0751.
University Art Museum
California State University Long Beach, North Campus, 1250
Bellflower Blvd., Long Beach 90840. Telephone: 562-985-5761.
web site: csulb.edu/uam