HISTORY
American LGBTQ Museum Coming to New York City
The museum will include study areas, access to a rooftop garden, and more
BY TAT BELLAMY-WALKER
The New-York Historical
Society is expanding its
headquarters to include
a new museum that will
chronicle the LGBTQ community
and its history. Construction on
the project is slated to begin in
2022.
The American LGBTQ+ Museum
will take up 60,000 square feet
of space New-York Historical Society’s
building at 170 Central Park
West. It will make history as the
city’s fi rst museum dedicated to
LGBTQ life, culture, and history.
The Leslie-Lohman Museum of the
Art is also LGBTQ-focused but is
primarily focused on art.
Under this $140 million project,
the museum will boast a comprehensive
collection of queer artifacts
to spotlight underrepresented
queer fi gures and educate youth
The New-York Historical Society plans to unveil a new museum dedicated to LGBTQ history.
about LGBTQ history.
The president and CEO of the
New-York Historical Society, Dr.
Louise Mirrer, said this museum
will act as a living archive for the
LGBTQ community.
“With great foresight, our trustees
acted in 1937 to purchase the
lot adjacent to New-York Historical’s
building, knowing that our
growing collections and evolving
programs for scholars, students,
educators, and the public would
someday need room to expand,”
Mirrer said in a written statement.
“Now that day has arrived — and
how gratifying it is to realize the
dream of telling the American
story in all its complexity in stateof
the-art educational spaces and
a brand-new gallery dedicated to
the struggle for civil rights of the
American LGBTQ+ community.”
In 2017, the American Museum
of LGBT History and Culture Task
Force began discussing plans for
the museum, and a year later, the
New York City Council threw its
weight behind the project. The following
year, the museum snagged
a partnership with the New-York
Historical Society. To help kick off
the project, organizers surveyed
more than 3,200 LGBTQ people
across the nation. The fi ndings
revealed that individuals sought
a space that was intersectional,
responsive to the community’s
needs, and accessible.
The New York-based fi rm Robert
A.M. Stern Architects is set
to design the facility, which will
include study areas, access to a
rooftop garden, and a “compact
NEW-YORK HISTORICAL SOCIETY
storage facility” for the Patricia
D. Klingenstein Library. The fi rst
phase of construction — to begin
next summer — will focus on “below
grade library stacks,” while
the second phase will build galleries
and classrooms, organizers
said.
Richard Burns, a museum board
chair, praised the project for bringing
visibility to LGBTQ issues.
“We’re delighted to partner with
New York’s foremost museum of
history to build a new museum
dedicated to an exploration and
celebration of the richness and
diversity of LGBTQ+ history and
culture in America,” Burns said
in a written statement. “The respect
and rigor with which New-
York Historical has approached
this process, including their consultation
with local communities,
mirrors our own commitment to
building a thoughtful, welcoming,
queer, and inclusive experience
for our visitors and partners.
We look forward to bringing a dynamic
new museum to life within
this cherished, deeply-respected,
and growing New York City landmark.”
The construction of the American
LGBTQ+ Museum in New York
comes after the Leslie-Lohman
Museum of the Art, an LGBTQ
gallery that has focused on exploring
and preserving queer artwork
since 2016.
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