Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum

Feast your eyes on this huge collection of decorative and design objects, with regularly changing exhibitions that highlight the most interesting and influential designs of different eras.

Visit the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum with Go City®

• With us, there are no entry fees on the day – all you've got to do is show your pass.
• Highlights from the museum’s collection of over 215,000 objects are exhibited inside the Georgian-style former home of Andrew Carnegie.
• Explore weird, wonderful and traditional design aesthetics in objects including furniture, porcelain, purses, musical instruments and more.
• Grab an Italian pastry and an espresso at the ground-floor café and relax on the lush green lawns of the Arthur Ross Terrace and Garden.

Take a walk through the culture and history of design and decorative arts in this visual treat of a museum.

The Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum is the only museum in the United States that’s entirely dedicated to historical and contemporary design, with collections and exhibitions that cover a whopping 30 centuries, from ancient Roman marble through Renaissance drawings to wallpapers and 3D-printed objects.

Housed inside a grand, Georgian-style mansion that was once the family home of philanthropist Andrew Carnegie, the museum also has a beautiful public garden that’s often used as a location for its events and exhibitions. Sit among the rockery, rhododendrons and cherry trees with an espresso and pastry from the café, or show off your skills on the ping-pong table!

Inside the museum, interactive galleries and exhibits encourage visitors to tap into their creative side and engage in digital design.

Highlights in the permanent collection include a huge range of Soviet porcelains, among them ornamental cosmonauts, busts of Lenin and Tolstoy and plates with striking patterns and illustrations. There’s a huge collection of works by Hudson River School painter Frederic Edwin Church and a number of Frederick Crace’s remarkable designs for King George IV’s exotic Chinese- and Indian-inspired Brighton pleasure palace.

Don’t forget to visit the museum shop for your own cool slice of classic or contemporary design to take home. The huge range of smart homeware, jewelry, bags and more will surely make you the envy of your style-conscious friends.

Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum highlights

Soviet porcelain - this eye-catching collection shines a light on the politics and culture of the Soviet Union from the Bolshevik Revolution up to the mid-1980s

George IV’s Royal Pavilion - see Frederick Crace’s fabulous designs for this grand seaside pleasure palace, plus related sketches and letters from John Nash

Arthur Ross Terrace and Garden - relax out in the public garden, with its pleasant lawns, cherry trees and rhododendron bushes