Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum: Lush and Lavish City Oasis

A nondescript, square brick building belies the opulence expressed in the interior of this installment of ‘Larger Than Life: Architecture Through the Ages.’

A brick façade and chimneys, terracotta-tile roof, and tall, rectangular windows are the main architectural features of the original Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum building. Inside, art and furnishings represent primarily Gothic and Renaissance revival styles from circa 20 B.C. to the late 19th century. The exterior materials are chiefly 20th century and American made. From this view, the plain, square, exterior is adorned only by upper-level iron balconies and balconettes and a protruding “Y” design that frames a top-floor, canted-bay window. Beyond My Ken/CC BY-SA 4.0

On the Fenway, surrounded by colleges and universities in busy Boston, is what appears to be a building of simple architectural design. The structure was built by New England architect Willard Thomas Sears (1837–1920), who designed Gothic and Renaissance revival buildings. While the exterior of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum conveys some aspects of the Gothic Revival style, it’s the interior—built in the Venetian style of a 15th-century palace—that wows visitors.

Although former grand residences throughout America often become museums, late-19th-century socialite Isabella Stewart Gardner and her husband, John, envisioned a newly erected museum to house not only their vast and varied collection, but also serve as a cultural center for musical and artistic events. John passed away before the structure’s construction began in 1898. But after it was completed in 1901, it thrived under Isabella’s guidance for the next 23 years.