. It was one of many
Gothic revival buildings modeled on
Doge's Palace in
Venice. Demolished 1901. The original founders of the National Academy of Design were students of the
American Academy of the Fine Arts. However, by 1825 the students of the American Academy felt a lack of support for teaching from the academy, its board composed of merchants, lawyers, and physicians, and from its unsympathetic president, the painter
John Trumbull. Samuel Morse and other students set about forming a drawing association to meet several times each week for the study of the art of design. Still, the association was viewed as a dependent organization of the American Academy, from which they felt neglected. An attempt was made to reconcile differences and maintain a single academy by appointing six of the artists from the association as directors of the American Academy. When four of the nominees were not elected, however, the frustrated artists resolved to form a new academy and the National Academy of Design was born. Morse had been a student at the
Royal Academy of Arts in
London and emulated its structure and goals for the National Academy of Design. The mission of the academy, from its foundation, was to "promote the fine arts in America through exhibition and education." In 2015, the academy struggled with financial hardship. In the next few years, it closed its museum and art school, and created an endowment through the sale of its New York real estate holdings. Today, the academy advocates for the arts as a tool for education, celebrates the role of artists and architects in public life, and serves as a catalyst for cultural conversations that propel society forward. According to the academy, its 450 National Academicians "are professional artists and architects who are elected to membership by their peers annually."
Official names After three years and some tentative names, in 1828 the academy found its longstanding name "National Academy of Design", under which it was known to one and a half centuries. In 1997, newly appointed director Annette Blaugrund
rebranded the institution as the "National Academy Museum and School of Fine Art", to reflect "a new spirit of integration incorporating the association of artists, museum, and school", and to avoid confusion with the now differently understood term "
design". This change was reversed in 2017. From 1906 to 1941, the academy's offices and exhibitions occupied the
American Fine Arts Society building at 215 West 57th Street. From 1942 to 2019, the academy was in a mansion at 1083
Fifth Avenue, near 89th Street; it had been the home of sculptor
Anna Hyatt Huntington and
philanthropist Archer M. Huntington, who donated the house in 1940. The National Academy of Design shared offices and galleries with the
National Arts Club located inside the historic
Samuel J. Tilden House, 14-15 Gramercy Park South from 2019 until 2023. The home of the National Academy of Design is at 519 West 26th Street, 2nd Floor with offices in addition to meeting, event, and exhibition space. ==Organization and activities==