The Hispanic Society of America building on Audubon Terrace in Washington Heights

Historic houseManhattan

Hispanic Society of America, Upper Manhattan’s Spanish Treasure House

The Hispanic Society of America is a museum and research library on Audubon Terrace in Washington Heights, in upper Manhattan. Founded in 1904 by Archer M. Huntington, it holds more than 18,000 works from Spain, Portugal and their former colonies, plus a library of rare books and manuscripts. It is far from Midtown, which is part of its appeal: a world-class collection that many visitors never find.

In a Manhattan neighborhood known for Dominican life, a 1908 museum guards paintings by Velázquez, Goya and El Greco, a first edition of Don Quixote and a hall of 14 giant Sorolla canvases.

WhereManhattan, Washington Heights (Audubon Terrace, Broadway near West 155th Street)

TypeMuseum and reference library; National Historic Landmark

Best forSpanish painting, rare books and manuscripts, Beaux-Arts architecture

Getting thereOpen to the public as a museum; reached by subway or bus to Washington Heights; admission has traditionally been free, but check the current opening hours and access rules before you go

The history of the Hispanic Society of America

At the end of the 19th century, attitudes toward Spain in the United States were largely negative, and the country had just replaced Spain as a regional power. Against that background Archer Milton Huntington, a wealthy philanthropist and scholar, decided to create an institution that would show that Hispanic art, literature and history deserved serious study. He founded the Hispanic Society of America on May 18, 1904.

Huntington was not first of all an art collector. He distrusted dealers, did not like to spend lavishly on art and had only about 23 paintings, most of them minor, when the society was founded. His real passion was books. In the early 1900s he bought the library of the Marquis of Jerez de los Caballeros in Seville, said to be the finest private collection of Spanish books in the world, and then hired a book dealer in Leipzig to help him build a rare-book collection of some 40,000 volumes. Artist-advisors helped him choose the Old Master paintings.

The main building, a Beaux-Arts design based on plans by his cousin Charles P. Huntington, opened in 1908 on Audubon Terrace. Huntington imagined the terrace as a cluster of cultural institutions and helped found 14 of them. A second building on the north side of the terrace was added in 1930, with sculpture by Anna Hyatt Huntington and nine reliefs by Berthold Nebel, a commission that took ten years. In 1909 an exhibition of the Spanish painter Joaquín Sorolla at the new society drew almost 660,000 visitors in about a month, and Huntington later commissioned from him the series of 14 large canvases known as Vision of Spain, painted between 1913 and 1919.

Over the following decades the institution grew quieter and more inward-looking, and it has been criticized for the distance it kept from the Dominican community that gradually became its neighbor. Under director Mitchell Codding, from 1995 to 2020, it began to widen its collecting to include Latin American works. In 1997 it expanded into the former building of the Museum of the American Indian, next door. The complex was designated a National Historic Landmark in 2012.

From January 2017 the museum closed for a renovation of about 15 million dollars that replaced the roof and lighting. During that time around 200 of its masterpieces toured museums in Madrid, Mexico City and several U.S. cities. The new East Building Gallery opened in 2021, and the museum reopened generally in June 2023 under Guillaume Kientz, who became director in 2020.

Little-known facts about the Hispanic Society

Despite the word “society” in its name, the institution has never functioned as a learned society; its honorary members are chosen by the librarians.
The Sorolla Room displays 14 huge canvases, together more than 200 feet (61 m) long, that Archer Huntington commissioned in 1911 and Sorolla finished between 1913 and 1919, with scenes from the regions of Spain.
The library has a first edition of Don Quixote and a world map from 1526 by Juan Vespucio, the nephew of the navigator Amerigo Vespucci.
The collection includes three paintings by Velázquez, five by Goya and seven by El Greco.
When Huntington bought the Jerez de los Caballeros library, the Spanish scholar Marcelino Menéndez Pelayo called its departure “a loss worse than Cuba”.
Between 2007 and 2011 the Dia Art Foundation organized contemporary art projects and a weekly program of public outdoor music, dance and poetry on the terrace.

Visiting the Hispanic Society of America

The museum is open to the public and has traditionally been free, in line with Huntington’s trust; as of 2022 admission to the new galleries was also free. Check the current opening hours and access rules before you go.
The main hall holds the Golden Age paintings, sculpture and decorative arts, while the East Building Gallery, formerly the Museum of the American Indian, hosts rotating exhibitions.
The research library with its rare books and manuscripts is a resource for scholars, and use of it has at times been by appointment. Check the current rules if you want to consult it.
Audubon Terrace is a quiet courtyard of Beaux-Arts buildings, and other attractions of upper Manhattan, such as the Morris-Jumel Mansion and High Bridge, are within a few kilometers.

Opening hours, access and conditions can change. Check before you go.

Map: where Hispanic Society of America is

Photos of Hispanic Society of America

Silk textile known as the Alhambra Silk, around 1400, from the museum collection

Interior view of the Hispanic Society of America, first of two photographs

Questions

Is the Hispanic Society of America free to visit?

Admission to the museum has always been free under the terms of Archer Huntington’s trust, and as of 2022 the new galleries were free too. Check the current rules before you go.

What can you see at the Hispanic Society of America?

More than 18,000 works, including three Velázquez, five Goya and seven El Greco paintings, a room of Sorolla canvases, textiles, ceramics and a library of rare books.

Where is the Hispanic Society of America?

On Audubon Terrace in Washington Heights, in upper Manhattan, on Broadway between West 155th and 156th streets.

Is it a society I can join?

No. Although it is called a society, it has never operated as one. Its honorary members are chosen by the librarians.

Is the museum focused on Latin American art?

Mainly on Spain and Portugal. It was founded to study Spanish culture and its colonies, though recent acquisitions have broadened the collection toward Latin America.

Why did the museum close in 2017?

It closed for a renovation that replaced the roof and lighting. A general reopening followed in June 2023, after rotating exhibitions began in the new East Building Gallery in 2021.