PEOPLE LOOK UP AT GOOD ARCHITECTURE

On view September 9, 2024 - May 11, 2025

The Yale Center for British Art (YCBA) was the last building designed by
architect Louis I. Kahn (1901–1974). Founded by Paul Mellon (Yale College,
Class of 1929) for the study and display of British art, the YCBA was the first
museum in the United States to incorporate leased retail store fronts at street
level. Inside the museum, Kahn’s extraordinary use of daylight and natural
materials reached its apotheosis.
To celebrate the YCBA’s reopening in spring 2025, this exhibition brings
together photographs, letters, sketches, and other archival materials from Yale’s
repositories to illuminate the museum’s history and architectural significance.

Curated by Jessica Quagliaroli, Chief Archivist, Yale Center for British Art, and Kathy Winsor Bohlman,
Architecture Records Archivist, Haas Family Arts Library Special Collections