The Met’s current Fifth Avenue building first opened to the public in 1880.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art was incorporated in 1870, but it did not begin at its present address. Its first public home was the Dodworth Building at 681 Fifth Avenue. After a short move to the Douglas Mansion on West 14th Street, the museum established its permanent location on Fifth Avenue at 82nd Street.
The first section of the current complex opened on March 30, 1880. The building has expanded dramatically since then, with new wings, galleries, and renovations added over many decades. Therefore, 1880 refers to the opening of the first portion of the present Fifth Avenue site, not the completion of the enormous museum visitors see today.
A common mix-up is confusing the museum’s founding date with the opening date. The Met was founded in 1870, while its current building began welcoming the public ten years later. The address is now 1000 Fifth Avenue, along Central Park’s Museum Mile.