Washington Heights Museum Group: Museum
of the American Indian—American Geograph-
ical Society—Hispanic Society of America—
American Numismatic Society—American Acad-
emy of Arts and Letters

Broadway, 155th to 156th St. IRT Broadway-7th Ave. subway to 157th St.; or 8th
Ave. (Independent) Washington Heights subway to 155th St.
Museum of the American Indian. Hours: weekdays 2 to 5 p.m., closed Sunday and
holidays; also closed during July and August. Admission free.

American Geographical Society. Reference library only. Hours: weekdays 9 a. m. to
4:45 p.m., closed Sunday, holidays, and Saturday from June to August. Admission
free.

Hispanic Society of America. Hours: weekdays 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Sunday and
holidays 1 to 5 p.m., closed Thanksgiving and Christmas. Admission free.
American Numismatic Society. Hours: daily 2 to 5 p.m., closed holidays. Admis-
sion free.

American Academy of Arts and Letters. Hours (November to May): weekdays
10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Sunday and holidays 2 to 5 p.m. Admission free.

Occupying land that in the nineteenth century was part of John James
Audubon's estate are buildings housing five of the nation's most distin-
guished museums and learned societies. This cultural center on Washington
Heights came into being through the liberality of Archer M. Huntington,
who inherited the fortune amassed by his father, Collis P. Huntington,
railroad magnate and developer of the Newport News Shipbuilding Com-
pany. The son, a poet and scholar, founded thirteen museums. The first
of the Washington Heights group, the Hispanic Society of America, was
founded in 1904. The building program extended over the next two decades.

The buildings face a court opening on Broadway. The entrance is
flanked by twin buildings—the Museum of the American Indian to the
south, and the home of the American Geographical Society to the north.
Adjacent to the latter is the north building of the Hispanic Society of
America, while directly opposite, adjoining the former, is the south build-
ing of the Hispanic Society; and farther to the west is the headquarters of
the American Numismatic Society. The architect was Charles Pratt Hunt-
ington, a nephew of Archer M. Huntington. He died in 1919, having
completed all the buildings except the two housing the American Academy
of Arts and Letters at the western end of the court. These were designed
by Cass Gilbert (north building) and McKim, Mead, and White (south).
Huntington evidently planned a monumental composition symmetrically
balanced on the axis of the Hispanic Society buildings, and while the court