The records comprise architectural drawings and renderings, models, design research materials, construction administration records, photographs, and electronic files documenting the design and construction of the Getty Villa and Ranch House renovation from 1994-2004. The records were created by Machado and Silvetti Associates and serve as an overview and summary of the project.

Machado and Silvetti Associates is an architecture and urban design firm based in Boston, MA. Incorporated in 1985, the firm's diverse projects include art museums, educational institutions, and urban design and planning worldwide.The Getty Villa, located in Malibu, California, operates as a museum and educational center dedicated to the study of the arts and cultures of ancient Greece, Rome, and Etruria. The Getty Villa was designed to house J. Paul Getty's art collection when the collection outgrew his Ranch House, which had served as a private museum since 1954. After considering various options for expanding the Ranch House, Getty decided in the fall of 1968 to build a new museum on the same property, in the form of a first-century Roman country house, based primarily on the plans of the ancient Villa dei Papiri just outside of Herculaneum. The archaeologist Norman Neuerburg, who had studied the ruins of Herculaneum and was an authority on Roman domestic architecture, was retained as a consultant for the project. The Santa Monica architectural firm Langdon & Wilson was hired to design the Villa, and British architect Stephen Garrett, who had served as Getty's consultant in the remodeling of a Getty home in Posillipo, Italy, was retained as overseer of the construction. Landscape architect Emmet Wemple designed the gardens, Garth Benton worked on the murals, and Bruce Ptolomy worked on the fountains. Construction began on December 21, 1970, and the new museum opened to the public on January 16, 1974, receiving negative and positive reviews.

352.0 linear feet (approximately 145 boxes, 12 flat files, and 47 architectural models)

Contact Library Rights and Reproductions at the Getty Research Institute for copyright information and permission to publish.

The records described in accession 2004.IA.05 and 2004.IA.06 are available for use by qualified researchers.