Architecture

Step into a re-creation of an ancient Roman country house at the Getty Villa Museum

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Beyond the descending rows of stone benches that form the Getty Villa’s Outdoor Amphitheatre is the Getty Villa Museum building, a classical two-story structure with a portico that runs the length of the entire building.

The Getty Villa Museum building sits across from the Barbara and Lawrence Fleischman Theater, an outdoor classical theater designed after ancient models.

History

The Getty Villa is modeled after the Villa dei Papiri in Herculaneum, Italy. The building was constructed in the early 1970s by architects who worked closely with founder J. Paul Getty.

The Villa dei Papiri (“Villa of the Papyruses”) was rediscovered in the 1750s. The excavation recovered bronze and marble sculptures, wall paintings, colorful stone pavements, and over a thousand papyrus scrolls—hence the name.

Buried by the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in A.D. 79, much of the Villa dei Papiri remains unexcavated. Therefore, architects based many of the Museum's architectural and landscaping details on elements from other ancient Roman houses in the towns of Pompeii, Herculaneum, and Stabiae. The scale, appearance, and some of the materials of the Getty Villa are taken from the Villa dei Papiri—such as the floor plan—though it is a mirror of the original.

Gardens are integral to the setting of the Getty Villa, as they were in the ancient Roman home, and include herbs and shrubs inspired by those grown in ancient Roman homes for food and ceremony.

  • A wide and light-filled view of the Villa Atrium, just inside the main entrance, which features an intricately inlaid tile floor and a square pool, with the far doors open to the Inner Peristyle and its garden.

    The Villa's Atrium, just inside the main entrance.

  • A peristyle of large white columns encloses a square garden including well-groomed greenery around a narrow central pool.

    The Inner Peristyle brings light and fresh air to the experience of the ground-floor galleries.

  • Sunlight spills through white columns that line a long walkway that opens on to a garden.

    The Outer Peristyle features serene walkways and plants known from the ancient Mediterranean.

  • Cylindrical lanterns topped with domes hang from a coffered ceiling painted in white, gray, light blue, and gold.

    The Villa includes details inspired by antiquity, such as vibrant wall paintings that create the illusion of three dimensions.

Renovation

Renovation of the Getty Villa began in 1996. The museum building retained its original design, but architects Machado and Silvetti made some changes to the site.

The main entrance was moved, windows and skylights were installed in the upper galleries, and some new buildings were added to the campus, including a new parking structure, an entry pavilion, and a classical outdoor theater.

A visit now begins in an open-air Entry Pavilion and then progresses along a scenic pathway to the heart of the site. As each building is at a slightly different elevation, visitors experience different perspectives at every turn.

Your first view of the Villa includes the original museum building and the Barbara and Lawrence Fleischman Theater, a 450-seat outdoor classical theater based on ancient prototypes.

The renovation incorporated modern designs and materials—wood, bronze, glass, travertine, and wood-formed concrete—that harmonize with the Getty Villa's original style.

  • Visitors dressed for a hot sunny day look down at the Outdoor Classical Theater and the Getty Villa Museum building directly across from it.

    Visitors' first view of the Getty Villa Museum building is from the entry pathway. Directly across the way is the Cafe building.

  • Across from the Villa entrance and a black-and-white marbled stone floor, the outdoor amphitheater's semicircular rows of warm-beige-colored stone benches rise to an upper level of the site.

    The outdoor classical theater as seen from the Getty Villa Museum building’s first-floor portico

  • Gray concrete embossed with the texture of wood grain and narrow planks is visible above a strip of travertine block.

    Detail of a wall made from wood-formed concrete and travertine.

Tours

Tours of the Villa will resume upon reopening.

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