The Charles Hosmer Morse Museum of American Art

Of the many unexpected pleasures awaiting visitors to Central Florida, none may be as dazzling as a stroll through the galleries of The Charles Hosmer Morse Museum of American Art, home to the world’s most comprehensive collection of works by American designer Louis Comfort Tiffany (1848–1933).

Highlights include the restored Byzantine-Romanesque chapel interior that Tiffany designed for the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago and a new wing that showcases the Museum’s collection of art and architectural objects from Tiffany’s celebrated Long Island home, Laurelton Hall. The galleries support the first permanent exhibition of these objects. The recently restored Daffodil Terrace, prize-winning leaded-glass windows, iconic Tiffany lamps, and custom furnishings are among the featured installations. Visitors will also enjoy the exhibits of American art pottery, Arts and Crafts furnishings, and late 19th- and early 20th-century American painting and graphics.

The Morse was founded by Jeannette Genius McKean (1909-89) in 1942 and named for her industrialist grandfather. Its collection was built over a half-century by Mrs. McKean and her husband, Hugh F. McKean (1908-95), the museum’s director until his death.