The Getty Center is getting a modern makeover.
The world-class museum announced Thursday a one-year closure beginning March 15, during which the Getty campus will undergo its most significant batch of upgrades in its nearly 30-year history.
The renovation, with an estimated cost of between $600 million and $800 million, will focus on the Getty’s tram system, along with the Welcome Hall and South Pavilion, with the goal of modernizing the institution to provide an elevated experience to its 1.3 million annual visitors.
The museum has also purchased a new building just across the freeway on Sepulveda Boulevard, where it will host an array of public programming — family festivals, lecture series and other arts programs.
“This new space will allow us to pursue some new types of activities, possibly even more cutting-edge than our spaces here allow us to pursue,” said Tim Whalen, vice president of institutional planning for the J. Paul Getty Trust.
Whalen said the closure is meant to streamline several renewal efforts that began in the last year or so as discrete projects: upgrading the building’s HVAC system, updating select galleries and others.
The decision to close came after leadership realized just how many projects needed to get done, Whalen said. In the end, he and his colleagues decided that “the best way to get at all of this as quickly and as efficiently as possible and with as little mess for the public as possible is to shut for these nine months or so.”
During the Getty Center closure, its Malibu coast neighbor the Getty Villa will remain open to the public. It will also host a collection of the former institution’s artworks so people can still get a taste of its offerings.
While the Getty Center remains closed to the public, Whalen said it will be “business as usual” for the staff of the museum, its conservation and research institutes and the Getty Foundation.
The Getty’s reopening is planned for spring 2028, ahead of the L.A. Olympics and Paralympics, at which time guests can look forward to expanded retail and dining offerings in the welcome pavilion, plus revamped galleries that allow for more contemporary presentation of the museum’s historic artifacts. The new and improved Getty will also be outfitted with new signs to better guide visitors through the campus.
As for the tram system, Whalen said the Getty is installing a new propulsion system with trams transporting more people per trip than before.
“We’re trying to improve the way visitors are received at the tram,” Whalen said, “and make it a much more welcoming, beautiful and art laden entry than we currently have.”
The Getty’s closure announcement comes as the La Brea Tar Pits and Museum gears up for its own closure and renovation — the first significant overhaul in its 50-year history.
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