El Museo del Barrio

A rendering of El Museo del Barrio’s new facade

When most folks think of Museum Mile, they picture the majestic structures of the Metropolitan, the Guggenheim or the Cooper-Hewitt, but Fifth Avenue’s art parade actually tops off with El Museo del Barrio at 105th Street.

Unfortunately, for decades the Latino cultural hot spot has been saddled with an ominous-looking, iron-gated entrance; the building was originally constructed as an orphanage in 1921. “People would pass by and wonder, Is it a school? Is it a prison?” semi-jokes Gonzalo Casals, El Museo’s director of education and public programs. “But that’s about to change.”

Indeed, when El Museo reopens on Saturday, October 17, after a lengthy renovation, there will be no mistaking its mission. The exterior gates will be gone, exposing the courtyard—which will be used for programming—and beyond it, an inviting, new glass facade. Inside, a Pan-Latino café will serve comfort food such as tacos, chuckwagon chili, tostones, and rice and beans. The galleries, formerly able to house just a single exhibit at a time, will have the space to showcase two simultaneously.

The first slated exhibits are “Nexus New York: Latin/American Artists in the Modern Metropolis,” which explores the artistic exchanges between Latino and non-Latino artists in early-20th-century New York City, and “Voces y Visiones: Highlights from El Museo del Barrio’s Permanent Collection.”

On opening day, visitors will enjoy free admission and sample concerts, storytelling sessions, art-making workshops and family-focused performances. As of November 21, similar open houses will take place the third Saturday of every month courtesy of Target.

Julián Zugazagoitia, El Museo’s director, hopes that the overhaul will raise the areas’s profile. “We want to be the gateway into the neighborhood,” he says. “Families can come here, see an exhibit, have a meal, go to the Museum of the City of New York next door, see the Conservatory Garden, discover the stores—really make a day of it. We want this part of the city to become a destination.”

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• East Harlem neighborhood report
• Museums & Sights articles
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