Entertaining

The museum’s two distinguished permanent-collection buildings, its sculpture garden, and its two elegant house museums offer a variety of distinctive spaces for private events. Entertainment privileges are available to individual or corporate Leadership Circle members at the Gallery Level or above. The museum’s experienced special-events staff assists with all details of each event. Click here for additional regulations and a list of approved vendors. Audiovisual capability is available in selected rooms. To learn about discounts available to your company, please contact Carly Peacher at cpeacher@mfah.org or 713-639-7571.

Caroline Wiess Law Building
Audrey Jones Beck Building
Brown Auditorium Theater
Lillie and Hugh Roy Cullen Sculpture Garden
Bayou Bend Collection and Gardens
Rienzi

Caroline Wiess Law Building North Foyer, Cullinan Hall, Brown Pavilion Fee: $10,000 Designed by Bauhaus master Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and inaugurated in two phases (1958 and 1974), the Law Building’s elegant Modernist pavilion opens onto Bissonnet. The rear of the building, a neoclassical structure designed by William Ward Watkin in the early 1920s to serve as the first MFAH building, provides gallery spaces that are more intimate.

North Foyer Capacity: 350 standing Well-suited as a registration and cocktail-reception area, the North Foyer of the Mies building is generally used as the entry area for events in Cullinan Hall and Brown Pavilion. Cullinan Hall Capacity: 800 standing; 400 seated Designed by Mies and dating from 1958, Cullinan Hall is the museum’s largest and most flexible entertainment space, with a 30-foot ceiling and 6,800 square feet of open floor area. Brown Pavilion Galleries Capacity: 300 standing; 150 seated This expansive, 22,000-square-foot balcony of galleries, typically showcasing the MFAH collection of modern and contemporary art as well as temporary exhibitions, overlooks Cullinan Hall. Cullinan Hall and Brown Pavilion can be used in tandem.

Audrey Jones Beck Building Fee: $10,000 Designed by Pritzker Prize-winning architect Rafael Moneo and opened in 2000, the Beck Building—which houses the museum’s collections of antiquities, Old Masters, Impressionism, American art, and modern and contemporary art—offers a variety of spaces for entertaining.

ExxonMobil Lobby Capacity: 200 standing A soaring, 80-foot, sky-lit atrium filled with antiquities is the dramatic backdrop to this entrance foyer of the Beck Building. The porte-cochere may be used in conjunction with the ExxonMobil lobby to accommodate large receptions of up to 1,000. The lobby may also be used as a registration area for greeting guests and for presenting parting gifts for events held on the upper floor of the Beck Building. Select European Galleries Capacities: 50–150 standing; 30–120 seated Enjoy a cocktail reception or intimate dinner in one or several galleries of the Beck Building, surrounded by Renaissance, Impressionist, and late-19th-century European masterworks, as well as Early Modern painting and sculpture. Back To Top

Brown Auditorium Theater Fee: $1,000 Capacity: 350 fixed seats Note: An MFAH audio-visual technician is required for auditorium rentals ($25 per hour, 4-hour minimum). Brown Auditorium Theater provides excellent sight lines to the stage from all 350 of its fixed seats and offers sophisticated audio-visual capabilities. The corridor outside the auditorium may be used for refreshments (100 guests, standing only). Food and beverage are not permitted in the auditorium. Back To Top

Lillie and Hugh Roy Cullen Sculpture Garden Fee: $5,000 Capacity: 450 standing; 200 seated Note: Events in the Sculpture Garden require tenting. Designed by Isamu Noguchi and opened in 1986, Cullen Sculpture Garden showcases masterworks of 19th- and 20th-century sculpture. A unique and tranquil oasis of art and nature at the corner of Bissonnet and Montrose, across from the Law Building, the garden provides an elegant setting for cocktails or dinner. Back To Top

Historic House Museums of the MFAH

Just minutes from downtown Houston in the River Oaks neighborhood, Bayou Bend Collection and Gardens and Rienzi provide gracious settings for entertaining, indoors or out.

Bayou Bend Collection and Gardens 1 Westcott Street at Memorial Drive Fee: $6,000–$10,000, depending on guest count Capacity: 400 guests Bayou Bend Collection and Gardens is home to one of the world’s greatest collections of American paintings, furniture, and decorative arts. Situated on 14 acres of formal and wooded gardens, Bayou Bend was designed by architect John F. Staub for Texas philanthropist Miss Ima Hogg and completed in 1928. Although the house itself is available only for self-guided or docent-led tours on the first floor, the gardens and north lawn overlooking a dramatic fountain are available for entertaining. The eight formal gardens are set among the woods and ravines bordering the estate. Graceful statues of the mythological figures Clio, Diana, and Euterpe preside over gardens named in their honor. The East Garden incorporates elements of English garden design; the Butterfly Garden is a parterre in the outline of a butterfly; and the White Garden offers a diverse array of blooming white flowers throughout the year. Tenting and flooring is required to protect the gardens and lawn; an MFAH special-events coordinator will assist with these arrangements. Regulations, restrictions: Food and beverage are not permitted inside the house; exterior tent required. Self-guided tours of the first floor are permitted, and informal docent-led tours may be requested. Bayou Bend is not available for events during February or the first two weeks of March. Events must be approved by the Bayou Bend director. Back To Top

Rienzi 1406 Kirby Drive Fee: $6,000–$8,000, depending on guest count Capacity: 175 guests Rienzi occupies 4.4 acres amidst Houston’s River Oaks neighborhood. The handsome estate serves as the MFAH center for European decorative arts and comprises a remarkable collection, a house, and gardens. The residence was designed in 1952 for Harris Masterson III and his wife, Carroll Sterling Masterson, by John F. Staub, the same architect who designed Bayou Bend just around the corner. The available event space at Rienzi includes the living room, equipped with a built-in bar and a glass exterior wall, with direct access to the back terrace, overlooking the pool and gardens. Rienzi’s ballroom, an extension of the house completed in 1972 by architect Hugo V. Neuhaus, is not available for event use, but the ballroom’s gallery provides a gracious entrance for small lectures, recitals, or stand-up receptions. Docents, stationed in select rooms, may be requested for informal tours. Regulations, restrictions: Food and beverage are permitted only in the living room, terrace, and gallery. Events must be approved by the Rienzi director. If the total guest count exceeds 99, the event rental must incorporate the back terrace. Back To Top