The Getty Center

Richard Meier spent thirteen years turning a hilltop above the 405 into this campus, cladding it in 300,000 travertine blocks shipped from Italy before it opened in 1997. An automated tram carries visitors from the parking garage up to the galleries, which hold European paintings, drawings, and sculpture from the Middle Ages onward alongside a photography collection spanning two centuries. Robert Irwin's 134,000-square-foot Central Garden runs downhill through plantings and a stream that disappears into a rock grotto. Admission is free with a timed reservation, and parking discounts kick in after 6 p.m. and on Saturday nights.