Stamp the PastPlay free
Places › Sacramento, CA

Crocker Art Museum: then and now

1886 vs 2014 · Sacramento, CA

Crocker Art Museum, 2014Crocker Art Museum, 1886
NowThen
Then, 1886The corner of the grand Italianate house behind an iron fence, with its tall windows and balcony. The date is 'photo of 1886' from its Wikimedia Commons listing.Photo: Society of California Pioneers (via Historic American Buildings Survey) · Public domain · Source · resized, from a scan
Today, 2014The old mansion on the left, with the modern museum wing that opened in 2010 beside it.Photo: Cullen328 · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Source · resized

The story

The original house was built by B. F. Hastings in 1853. Judge Edwin B. Crocker bought it in 1868. The gallery next to it was designed by Seth Babson, planned in 1871 and completed in 1874, to show the art the Crockers collected.

In 1885, Margaret Crocker gave the gallery and the collection to the City of Sacramento and the California Museum Association. The museum is described as the oldest art museum in the western United States.

A big expansion designed by Gwathmey Siegel & Associates opened on October 10, 2010, adding the modern wing you see beside the old mansion.

Did you know? The museum sits at 216 O Street, a short walk from the Capitol and the river.
Historians argue about this. The "Then" date (1886) comes from its Wikimedia Commons listing. The "Now" photo year comes from the file's camera data (2014), and the grounds may have changed slightly since.

Fact or tall tale?

Sources

More: Look for historic photos at the Library of Congress

Stamp it in person

Go there, answer the question that only someone standing at Crocker Art Museum can answer, and add the stamp to your passport. Free, no sign-up.

Play Sacramento

More in Sacramento

Next: California State Capitol. Written from the cited sources, not yet walked on site unless noted.