Cummer Museum of Art and Gardens
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Entrance to the Cummer Museum
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 Location within Central Jacksonville
Location within Central Jacksonville
Location within Central Jacksonville
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| Former name | The Cummer Gallery |
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| Established | November 11, 1961 |
| Location | Jacksonville, Florida |
| Coordinates | 30°18′54″N 81°40′37″W / 30.314945°N 81.676900°W |
| Type | Art museum |
| Accreditation | American Alliance of Museums |
| Visitors | 130,000 annually |
| Founder | Ninah Cummer |
| Director | Holly Keris (Acting) |
| Curator | Holly Keris |
| Public transit access | Bus: R5, WS12 |
| Nearest parking | Across the street (no charge) |
| Website | |
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Cummer Gardens
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| NRHP Reference # | 09000345 |
| Added to NRHP | January 25, 2010 |
The Cummer Museum of Art and Gardens is a museum located in Jacksonville, Florida. It was founded in 1961 after the death of Ninah Cummer, who bequeathed her gardens and personal art collection to the new museum. The Cummer Museum has since expanded to include the property owned by Ninah's brother-in-law, but it still includes her original garden designs and a portion of her home with its historic furnishing. The museum and gardens attract 130,000 visitors annually.
The permanent collection of the museum currently includes over five thousand works of art dating from 2100 BCE to the twenty-first century. The museum's collection is especially strong in European and American paintings and also includes substantial holdings of Meissen porcelain. The museum also has an award-winning education center, Art Connections, which possesses a number of interactive educational installations and serves underprivileged and special education students with its programs.
There are three flower gardens on the museum grounds, the oldest dating back to 1903. These gardens have preserved their original layout for over a century and were designed by landscape designers such as the Olmsted Brothers, Thomas Meehan & Sons, and Ellen Biddle Shipman. The Cummer Gardens are on the National Register of Historic Places.
The history of the Cummer Museum dates back to 1902. That year, Arthur and Ninah Cummer built their home on Riverside Avenue. Arthur's parents Wellington and Ada Cummer lived next door, and Arthur's brother Waldo and sister-in-law Clara lived nearby. Wellington Cummer was a wealthy lumber baron from Cadillac, Michigan who moved to Jacksonville in 1896. The Cummer Lumber company was, at one point, the largest landowner in Florida. Wellington also built the Jacksonville and Southwestern Railroad.
In 1906, on their honeymoon, Ninah and Arthur Cummer purchased their first piece of art, a painting titled Along the Strand directly from the artist, Paul King. The painting depicts two men riding horse-drawn carts on a beach. In 1931, Ada Cummer died, and her two sons tore down her old home and split the property. Ninah Cummer then hired landscape architect Ellen Biddle Shipman to create the Italian Garden on her and Arthur's land. Clara Cummer had her portion combined with her existing garden to create the Olmsted Garden.
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