The Huntington’s Century-Old Library Halls To Go Dark During Transformation

The exhibition halls where generations of visitors have stood before a Gutenberg Bible and the Ellesmere Chaucer manuscript will fall silent this spring, closed for the first major renovation of The Huntington’s 1919 Library building in its 107-year history.

The project, which President Karen R. Lawrence calls “the most ambitious building project” in The Huntington’s history, will transform the Library into the Library/Art Building—an approximately 83,000-square-foot modernization that brings Library and Art Museum operations together under one roof.

The Library exhibition halls are expected to reopen in spring 2029. In the meantime, The Huntington’s 130 acres of botanical gardens, art galleries, exhibitions, and programs remain fully open, and rare Library materials are on display through the “Stories from the Library” exhibition series in the Huntington Art Museum.

The fundraising campaign for the project stands at $126.6 million, with more than $100 million already committed by foundations and individual donors, according to The Huntington.

The building that will undergo the transformation was designed by architect Myron Hunt, a Pasadena-based architect who was a leading figure of early 20th-century Southern California architecture. Hunt also designed the Huntington residence, now the Art Gallery. The institution, located at 1151 Oxford Road in San Marino — directly adjacent to Pasadena — was founded in 1919 by railroad magnate Henry E. Huntington and his wife Arabella, and today holds a collection of some 12 million rare books, manuscripts, photographs, prints, drawings, and ephemera.

The modernization will restore the historic public-facing exhibition halls while replacing outdated back-of-house spaces with modern facilities. It will expand conservation studio capacity by approximately 8,000 square feet, create a new Works on Paper Study Center, and add a new gallery dedicated to the history of science — replacing the former “Beautiful Science” exhibition with one called “Worlds Unfolding: Science on the Page.”

The Art Museum’s collection of more than 38,000 works on paper — drawings, watercolors, and prints representing upwards of 80 percent of its holdings — will move into the new building, much of it rarely accessible to the public because the works are light-sensitive.

“Housing the Museum’s works on paper and the Library’s collections under one roof will deepen scholarship and spark new forms of inquiry,” said Christina Nielsen, the Hannah and Russel Kully Director of the Art Museum. “This kind of proximity will foster not only interdisciplinary research but richer, more nuanced exhibitions.”

The design is being led by RAMSA (Robert A.M. Stern Architects), the New York-based firm known for institutional and historic renovation work. Samuel Anderson Architects is providing expertise on collections storage and conservation studio design.

The concept originated with Lawrence, who sought a single solution to meet needs in both the Library and Art Museum, according to The Huntington’s news release. The project reflects the institution’s strategic plan, which calls for integrated approaches under the guiding principle of “One Huntington.”

“The Library has always anchored The Huntington’s commitment to knowledge and public access,” said Sandra Brooke Gordon, the Avery Director of the Library. “Now, we’re evolving that legacy with revitalized spaces designed to support collaboration and a broader community of researchers.”

During construction, the research library will remain open to readers and Research Fellows, and all collections will stay on site. Each year, the Library welcomes thousands of researchers, including more than 175 fellows in what The Huntington describes as the nation’s largest humanities research program.

Visitors looking for Library materials during the closure can find them in the “Stories from the Library” series, which debuted on June 21, 2025, and will continue through 2028 with rotating exhibitions in the Huntington Art Museum. The current rotation, “From Brontë to Butler” and “Looking to Learn,” is on view through June 15, 2026. The Gutenberg Bible is scheduled to go on display as part of a future rotation beginning in fall 2027.

The Huntington is open daily from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., closed Tuesdays. Tickets and visitor information are available at huntington.org.