Atlantic City Art Center
Garden Pier
One of Atlantic City's secret treasures, the Art Center has been providing residents and visitors alike with an unparalleled opportunity to view the work of noted national and regional artists with the beautiful Atlantic Ocean as a backdrop for the past 40 years.
Re-opening July 31, 1994 after a $5 million 2-year restoration under a 1991 City of Atlantic City bond ordinance, the pier continues to house the Atlantic City Art Center and the Atlantic City Historical Museum.
Garden Pier derived its name from the beautifully arranged flower gardens on its deck. Its previous career was a glamorous, having featured international headlines while serving as a summer setting for musicals, concerts and plays.
Short History
The pier opened in 1908 when a row of stores was erected on a 175 foot frontage at New Jersey Avenue by George H. Earle of Philadelphia, PA. Earle sold those stores to the pier holding and realty company in January 1912.
The first Garden Pier was erected in 1913 at a cost of more than $1,000,000.00. It had walls of Terra Cotta tile built around structural steel frames with Spanish title rooms and copper cornices. Flower beds occupied the center of the structure. A theater was built on the ocean end of the pier, an Easter concert by great Irish tenor John McCormick was a tradition for many years along with the John Phillip Sousa band.
The pier was acquired by the City of Atlantic City and rehabilitated with luxury tax monies. It reopened as a city operation during the 1954 centennial celebration.
A large concert state and band shell with seats for 1500 spectators was added an elaborate fountain and garden plots in the center of the pier. Granite for the fountain is reputed to have cost in excess of $100,000 and when completed it represented expenditures of approximately $250,000.
The pier itself is supported by concrete pilings that very in size according to the super imposed load. These piles were jetted down not less than twenty feet and in some cases forty feet below the ocean floor. They very in diameter from six to nine feet.
In the Atlantic City Art Center exhibitions of paintings, sculptures and photography by artists throughout the USA are featured.
Garden Pier is open Tuesday through Sunday, from 10AM to 4PM. Admission and parking is free.
Atlantic City Art Center Mission Statement
The Mission of the Atlantic City Art Center, the only exhibiting center in the Nation located on a municipal pier extending into the Atlantic Ocean, is to provide for the Southern region of New Jersey including economically and culturally diverse constituents, the opportunity for cultural experience through high quality exhibitions, educational outreach and related arts programming at the Center and other locations such as schools, colleges, and including collaborations with corporate entities, museums, libraries, galleries and other arts organizations.
