Getty Center and the travertine hilltop above Los Angeles

Getty Center in Los Angeles pairs Richard Meier’s hilltop campus with travertine, gardens and wide views across the basin.

Getty Center rises above Los Angeles as a hilltop campus of travertine, glass and planted terraces. Designed by Richard Meier and opened in 1997, it brings museum galleries, research and gardens into one ensemble.

Travertine, terraces and a hilltop plan

The first impression is material as much as form. Pale Italian travertine covers walls, paving and retaining structures, while white metal and glass keep the campus light in tone.

That surface language appears across the buildings, the plazas and the edges of the gardens. A hilltop campus in the Santa Monica Mountains gives the whole place a strong outline against the city below.

Richard Meier, the Getty Trust and 1997

The complex is closely tied to the J. Paul Getty Trust and to Richard Meier’s architecture. The campus opened in 1997, after Meier had won the commission in the 1980s and developed a plan of connected buildings rather than one monumental block.

That arrangement separates galleries, study spaces and gardens while keeping them part of the same setting. Richard Meier designed six principal buildings, and the museum’s hilltop position is part of its identity.

Views, gardens and the museum campus

From the terraces, Los Angeles opens out in several directions. The site looks towards the Pacific Ocean, the urban basin and the Santa Monica Mountains, while the Central Garden adds planting and water to the hard geometry of the stone surfaces.

The architecture is not a single facade to read from one angle. Walkways, courts and balconies shift the view from one building to another, and the campus keeps both museum and landscape in sight.

Visiting Getty Center: what travellers from Western Europe should know

• The site lies in Brentwood, west Los Angeles, in the Santa Monica Mountains. A tram links the street-level parking structure with the hilltop campus.
• The approach includes steps, terraces and changes in level. The complex sits on a steep hillside rather than a flat urban plot.
• The architecture uses Italian travertine throughout the main public areas. The stone gives the buildings, retaining walls and paving a shared surface.
• The campus combines museum spaces with the Getty Research Institute, the Getty Conservation Institute and the Getty Foundation. Those functions occupy separate buildings within one planned ensemble.

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Frequently asked questions about Getty Center

Where is Getty Center?

It stands in Brentwood, in west Los Angeles, on a hill in the Santa Monica Mountains.

What does a visit there involve?

The campus is reached by tram from the parking structure and then explored on foot across terraces, courtyards and museum buildings.

What makes Getty Center distinctive?

The combination of Richard Meier’s 1997 campus plan, travertine cladding and broad views across Los Angeles defines the place.