George Eastman Museum

Address:	900 East Ave, Rochester, NY 14607, USA
Phone:	+1 585-271-3361
Site:	eastman.org
Rating:	4.6
Working:	Closed 10AM–5PM 10AM–5PM 10AM–5PM 10AM–5PM 10AM–5PM 11AM–5PM

Location

Photos 100

Reviews 6

Paul Cicotta

The Eastman House has always been a permanent fixture here in the Rochester area. The mansion, along with its gardens are spectacular to look at from the outside. The Eastman House has been very consistent with its changing exhibits, giving you a variety of new options each time you come there to visit. I came for the Yelp! event of "In Glorious Technicolor". The museum offers a great deal for local college students at a $5.00 admission charge. Christmas time at the Eastman House is truly magical, and should be an annual once a year visit around the holiday season. The whole mansion is decorated beautifully with giant Christmas Trees, wreaths, and the famous Ginger-Bread House Exhibit. The staff is always very informative if you have any questions regarding the museum during your visit. Lets get started with the first area in the museum. History: Photographs by David Levinthal- This exhibit was one of my favorites to date. Through toys, and objects this photographer created images of historical time-periods throughout history. You couldnt even tell in the photographs that they were toys. Plus I am HUGE history buff. Main Event: In Glorious Technicolor- one of the BEST special event exhibits I have seen there. HUGE projection screens of different animations/movies relating to color in different time periods. The movie projections were so big, you felt you were in the Technicolor movie yourself. It did a great job of breaking down Technicolor history from 1-2-3 sided colored projections. The examples of movies/projections went hand-in-hand with the information, laid out very nice around the museum area. The History of Photography- This exhibit took a MAJOR over-hull. At first when I looked at it, I was disappointed in the change. However, after looking around I did enjoy it better. Let me tell you, the "history" part is virtually GONE. Replaced by cool pictures around the room depicting the history. They incredibly shrunk its camera collection, and even got rid of the cool toy cameras I remembered using when I was a kid. I did enjoy looking at the different pictures around the wall, they were entertaining. The Mansion: You cant go wrong with George Eastmans Mansion. Always beautifully laid out, with priceless china and animal skins. Lets not forget about the giant elephant head in the main foyer room. The conservatory always has beautiful smelling flowers, which are waiting to be moved outside for Spring. Each time I walk through the mansion, I imagine a life I could one day live. Upstairs is where you will find the George Eastman himself exhibit, and unfortunately this is where we now take a drastic turn. George Eastman Exhibit- It was not until this year did they get RID of most of George Eastmans history. It is a shame, because that part of the house gave you an inside glimpse of who George Eastman REALLY was. Instead, you get a tiny little room with a "commercialized" aspect of George Eastmans life. No longer can you see his family history/timeline. They dont want you to know now that George Eastman had NO WIVES, rumored that he was a homosexual. They REMOVED that whole part of the museum. His once secret tunnel he had attached to the mansion where he would go and meet his "servants". That PART is gone too. Now when people see the museum, they will not see the REAL George Eastman. I discussed this with the curator of the museum, miffed as well as to why they got rid of those historical aspects of George Eastmans personal life. Overall: Beautiful Museum/Mansion, Technicolor Special Exhibit, New History of Photography Exhibit, Gardens, Ginger-Bread Houses, Historical Toy Pictures, Removal of most of George Eastmans Family History, and of course The Giant Elephant Head.....I will be back.

Lisa Weigand

I was very disappointed with the house and the tour, especially for the $14 adult admission coat. Very few rooms are open to the general public and even fewer rooms have been restored to their original state. The tour was a disorganized, massive group of people who could barely fit into each room and the dossent would often begin her description of the various aspects of each room before the entire group was assembled. The way the house has been set up causes clumps of people trying to enter and leave rooms at the same time, a better flow could surely have been developed. The kitchen is not included on the tour, Eastmans bedroom, bathroom, and dressing room are not included; in fact, the only bedroom of the 15 bedrooms in the house that is part of the tour is Eastmans mothers room. To remedy the tour situation described above, I would recommend that dossents only take a small group of people, maybe 10-12 at a time; to join a guided tour, reservations would need to be made. As far as the restoration of the house, well, I would suggest contacting a architectural historian and work on restoring more rooms to their original state and opening them to the public. For a fantastic peak into the lives of wealthy modern - day robber barons, check out Clayton, Henry Clay Fricks mansion in Pittsburgh, PA.

John Grande

Do not park your car around here. Had my car broken into out front along with another car earlier (they had known it happens but did not inform us). Absolutely no help from the security at the museum plus the police force in that area laughed at my situation and got no help from them either. It almost felt like they are working together to heist stolen merchandise (I wouldnt be surprised in Rochester) Please avoid at all cost this place and this area. Dont bother trying to get any help from security or the local police in this area. Its sad to see hardworking people buy equipment to make a living for it to be stolen by worthless thieves who have no goals in life and its sad to see that our police force to be so useless in times of need or for "supposably" reputable museums to hire such low quality employees to keep there patrons safe. By the way the amount stole was not small it was over $7000

Vince Slaugh

Apparently the Eastman Museum has one of the best photography collections in the history of the world with over 400,000 photographic objects. Unfortunately, visitors to the museum can only view a few dozen of them. For example, I think there were only about 10 or so from before 1885 on display. In total, a visitor might be able to see only about 100-200 photographs from any era in the entire museum. Im a minor fan of early photography, and my heart sank when I found out that there is one "History of Photography" gallery and discovered it to be so small and sparse. I find it fascinating to look at old photographs to understand their artistic, cultural, and technological significance and how photography changed over time. Unfortunately the Eastman Museum is not a place where I can do that.

Giovanni Agazzi

Il museo è stato ricavato nella splendida villa di George Eastman, fondatore della Kodak. È possibile ammirare alcune gallerie fotografiche, una raccolta di apparecchi fotografici ma soprattutto gli interni dellabitazione di Eastman, riportati a come erano ai primi del 900. Si scopre così la personalità di un imprenditore geniale che ha anche compiuto importanti opere filantropiche

Libby Hsiao

An essential destination for anyone with an appreciation for the art of photography. Its almost tragic to have borne witness to the demise of Kodak when you see the history of hits rise and the vision of George Eastman. If you live in the Rochester area, do yourself a favour and just buy a membership. For two years I held a membership I took full advantage of access to the private upstairs downstairs tours, live music in the gardens and guest speakers such as Steve McCurry.