Private-Event Rentals
Host Your Next Event at the MFAH
The MFAH campus offers a variety of unique and elegant spaces for private events. When you select the MFAH as your next venue, you are supporting the Museum’s exhibitions, programs, and community outreach. Discounted rental fees are available for members of the Corporate Partners program and the Leadership Circle.
• For more information, please contact specialevents@mfah.org or 713.639.7754.
• See the photography policy.
• Learn more about the Private Proposal Package.
• View a list of Frequently Asked Questions.
Caroline Wiess Law Building
1001 Bissonnet Street
Houston, TX 77005
Maximum Capacity
• Reception: 750
• Seated Dinner: 350
The Caroline Wiess Law Building is home to the largest entertaining space at the Museum. Cullinan Hall is perfect for large corporate dinners, holiday parties, and wedding receptions.
Designed by Bauhaus master Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and completed in two phases (1958 and 1974), the Law Building’s elegant Modernist pavilion opens onto Bissonnet, now the Law Building’s front entrance. The rear of the building, a Neoclassical structure designed by William Ward Watkin in the early 1920s to serve as the first MFAH building, has gallery spaces that are more intimate.
Audrey Jones Beck Building
5601 Main Street
Houston, TX 77005
Maximum Capacity
• Reception: 350
• Seated Dinner: 150
The Audrey Jones Beck Building has a wide variety of entertaining galleries, perfect for cocktail parties or intimate dinners. This building is the also the ideal setting for hosting both wedding ceremonies and receptions of up to 150 guests.
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, and American art—offers a variety of spaces for entertaining.
Nancy and Rich Kinder Building
5500 Main Street
Houston, TX 77004
Maximum Capacity
• Reception: 300
• Seated Dinner: 250
The Kinder Building, named for MFAH patrons Nancy and Rich Kinder, is devoted to the display of the Museum’s international collections of modern and contemporary art. It is ideally suited for dinners, cocktail parties, and wedding receptions.
Designed by Steven Holl Architects as the third MFAH gallery building, it is the final component in the eight-year project to expand and enhance Museum’s Susan and Fayez S. Sarofim Campus. Gathered under a “luminous canopy” roof, the concave curves reference the billowing clouds that fill the “big sky” of Texas, allowing natural light to flood the central spaces.
Glassell School of Art
5101 Montrose Boulevard
Houston, TX 77006
Maximum Capacity
• Standing Reception: 200
• Seated Dinner: 120
The Glassell School of Art is ideally suited for cocktail parties and receptions. Weather permitting, limited elements may take place on the PNC Roof Garden.
Designed by Steven Holl Architects and opened in 2018, the L-shaped building is constructed from nearly 200 sandblasted, precast concrete panels, alternating with panes of glass, in a rhythm of verticals and slight angles. The Glassell School of Art is the teaching institute of the MFAH, offering classes and workshops for all ages at the Studio School and Junior School; and the Core Residency Program for postgraduate artists and critics.
Rienzi
1406 Kirby Drive
Houston, TX 77019
Maximum Capacity
• Standing Reception: 99
Rienzi is the perfect location to host intimate cocktail receptions for lovers of European decorative arts
Rienzi is the MFAH house museum for European decorative arts. The former residence of Carroll Sterling Masterson and Harris Masterson III, Rienzi was designed by architect John F. Staub in 1952. In 1972 the Mastersons’ neighbor, architect Hugo V. Neuhaus, added a ballroom to the residence. This addition allowed the owners to expand their social activities and gave Harris Masterson more room for his growing collection of European ceramics, which today forms the core of the Rienzi Collection.
Brown Auditorium Theater
1001 Bissonnet Street
Houston, TX 77005
Maximum Capacity
• 350 fixed lecture-style seats
Brown Auditorium Theater—part of Ludwig Mies van der Rohe’s 1954 master plan for the Law Building expansion—provides excellent sight lines to the stage from all 350 of its fixed seats and offers sophisticated audio-visual capabilities.
Lora Jean Kilroy Visitor & Education Center at Bayou Bend
6003 Memorial Drive
Houston, TX 77007
Bayou Bend’s award-winning Kilroy Visitor Center is a popular setting for receptions, meetings, and parties. The sleek glass-and-steel architecture offers light-filled spaces, a two-story lobby, and beautiful views. At night, exterior lighting provides a surrounding glow. Added features include exhibitions and a media wall.
The Visitor Center serves as a modern gateway to historic Bayou Bend Collection and Gardens. Designed by Houston architect Leslie K. Elkins and opened in 2010, the Visitor Center is just four miles from downtown or the Galleria, easily reached via Memorial Drive, Allen Parkway, Loop 610, or I-10. Political, commercial, fundraising, and religious events (including wedding ceremonies) are not permitted.
Learn more about capacity and amenities. For information about booking the Visitor Center, contact Lavinia Ignat, 713.639.7758.
Outdoor Photography Permits
Outdoor photography permits are available for formal photography requests intended for personal, noncommercial use only.
Permits allow for photography in the outdoor areas of the Museum only, and include the Cullen Sculpture Garden; Brown Foundation, Inc. Plaza; PNC Roof Garden; Cullen Foundation Promenade; and South Lawn.
Photo shoots are not permitted inside any Museum buildings or at Rienzi. Examples of photo shoots include, but are not limited to, bridal portraits, engagement photos, graduation photos, and holiday family photos.
► Download an application for an outdoor photography permit.
If you have any questions, please contact specialevents@mfah.org or 713.639.7754.
Private Proposal Package
Say YES! to the Private Proposal Package and pop the question among 70,000 works of art.
The package includes private gallery access for the couple and guest/friend or photographer and ALL ACCESS tickets to explore our extraordinary permanent collections and exhibitions, creating a memory of a lifetime.
Contact specialevents@mfah.org for more information or to schedule a tour of the available gallery spaces.