Children's Museum Houston (CMH) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit

children's museum Children's museums are institutions that provide exhibits and programs to stimulate informal learning experiences for children. In contrast with traditional museums that typically have a hands-off policy regarding exhibits, children's museums feat ...

in the Museum District of

Houston, Texas Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 i ...

. Founded in 1980 and housed in a building designed by

Robert Venturi Robert Charles Venturi Jr. (June 25, 1925 – September 18, 2018) was an American architect, founding principal of the firm Venturi, Scott Brown and Associates, and one of the major architectural figures of the twentieth century. Together with h ...

, it offers exhibits and bilingual learning programs for children aged 0-12, serving more than 1,400,000 people annually. It is one of 190 children's museums in the United States and 15 children's museums in Texas.Johnson, Patricia C.
Houston children's museum to double in size
" ''

Houston Chronicle The ''Houston Chronicle'' is the largest daily newspaper in Houston, Texas, United States. , it is the third-largest newspaper by Sunday circulation in the United States, behind only ''The New York Times'' and the ''Los Angeles Times''. With i ...

''. Wednesday October 11, 2006. Retrieved on August 26, 2012.

History

CMH was founded in 1980 by a group of Houston parents. It opened in 1984, originally leasing space from the

Blaffer Gallery Blaffer Art Museum is a non-collecting contemporary art museum located in the Arts District of the University of Houston campus. Housed in the university’s Fine Arts Building, it is part of the Kathrine G. McGovern College of the Arts. It was fo ...

of the

University of Houston The University of Houston (UH) is a Public university, public research university in Houston, Texas. Founded in 1927, UH is a member of the University of Houston System and the List of universities in Texas by enrollment, university in Texas ...

; it moved several years later to 11,000 square feet (1,000 m²) of leased space in the former Star Engraving Company Building on

Allen Parkway Allen Parkway is an arterial road west of Downtown Houston, Texas. It has a distance of approximately 2.3 miles (3.7 km), running from Interstate 45 west to Shepherd Drive, where it becomes Kirby Drive. Originally known as Buffalo Parkway,< ...

. Its current facility, located at 1500 Binz in Houston's Museum District, opened in November 1992, and features of space. It was designed to accommodate 350,000 annual visitors. The building was designed by Denise Scott Brown and

(in association with Jackson and Ryan Architects), who designed the space to evoke both institutional monumentality "typical of the adult world" as well as playfulness befitting an institution primarily serving children. By 1997, CMH received 700,000 annual visitors. Executive director Tammie Kahn said in 2009 that by the year 1997, it was, as paraphrased by Jennifer Leahy of the ''

'' "apparent that the popular place needed more space."Leahy, Jennifer.
Visitors swarm expanded Houston Children's Museum
" ''

''. Saturday, March 14, 2009. Retrieved on August 26, 2012. The museum began plans to move to a new location in the late 1990s. After 1992, CMH's administrative and support offices were located on the facility's second floor. These administrative and support offices moved in 2009 to a newly constructed facility at the intersection of Binz and Crawford, 1.5 city blocks from the museum facility. The outreach program Institute for Family Learning now occupies the second floor. The museum operates as a

501(c)(3) A 501(c)(3) organization is a United States corporation, trust, unincorporated association or other type of organization exempt from federal income tax under section 501(c)(3) of Title 26 of the United States Code. It is one of the 29 types of ...

under the direction of a board of directors.

Expansion

In 2009, the museum completed its expansion, doubling its size to a total of . This increased the museum's

bilingual Multilingualism is the use of more than one language, either by an individual speaker or by a group of speakers. It is believed that multilingual speakers outnumber monolingual speakers in the world's population. More than half of all ...

, community-based educational outreach programs, provided new classrooms and lab spaces through the museum's Institute for Family Learning, and doubled the size of the museum's on-site Houston Public Library branch. The new building addition joins the original building and houses seven additional exhibit galleries. The expansion was funded by a capital campaign that raised over $35.5 million. Across the street from the main facility is the E. Rudge Allen Jr. Family Education Annex. Designed by Jackson & Ryan, it was also completed in 2009.

Attendance

CMH serves more than 1 million people annually; its outreach programs annually serve an additional 250,000 people. In 2009, executive director Tammie Kahn said that social service agencies and outreach programs serving schools together provide tickets serving over 30 percent of the museum's visitors.

Awards

MSN.com awarded CMH first place in a 2005 ranking of children's museums. In 2001, ''

Child Magazine ''Child'' was an American parenting magazine founded by Jackie Leo and MaryAnn Sommers in 1986 and published until 2007. History and profile ''Child'' was first published in October 1986. The magazine was started as a bi-monthly publication. It w ...

'' ranked the museum in second place, after the

Children's Museum of Indianapolis The Children's Museum of Indianapolis is the world's largest children's museum. It is located at 3000 North Meridian Street, Indianapolis, Indiana in the United Northwest Area neighborhood of the city. The museum is accredited by the American Al ...

, in consideration of the availability of staff, diversity of exhibits, and overall experience. '' Parents'' magazine rated it as "America's No. 1 Children's Museum." Nickelodeon Parent's Picks named it the "Best Museum in Houston 2009 & 2010."

KPRC-TV KPRC-TV (channel 2) is a television station in Houston, Texas, United States, affiliated with NBC and owned by Graham Media Group. Its studios are located on Southwest Freeway (I-69/US 59) in the Southwest Management District (formerly Greater ...

(Click2Houston) called it the "Best Museum 2010."

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also r ...

magazine ranked it as a top children's museum. Other awards include: TripSaavy's 2018 Editor's Choice Award "Best Family Attraction and Experience," AAA 2018 Editor's "Best Of Things To Do," listed among ''Forbes, LA Times, and USA Today's'' "Best Children's Museums in the U.S.," TripAdvisor's Certificate of Excellence "Hall of Fame," Kids Out and About "Top 20 Places to Take Kids in Houston," The Culture Trip's "Top Museum and Landmark to Visit in Houston" and one of "Houston's Must-See Museums" by ''Travel Channel.''

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Children's Museum Houston Children's museums in Texas Museums in Houston