2. National Academy Museum (1825)

Photo from Library of Congress

The National Academy Museum was founded in 1825 by a group of artists and architects, including Thomas Cole, Rembrandt Peale, and Samuel F.B. Morse, to create a school and exhibition space created by and for artists where “art could flourish outside of the aristocratic patronage system.” The Museum had various locations until 1942 when it found its home in a Beaux Arts-style mansion on Fifth Avenue and 89th Street, in the former home of millionaire Archer Milton Huntington, who is also the founder of the Hispanic Society. Above is a picture of one of the museum’s past buildings on 4th Avenue and 23rd Street, where the Museum lived between 1860 and 1899, when the building was bought by Metropolitan Life Insurance Company.