The residence of Ellen Browning Scripps, designed by Irving J. Gill, is purchased by the Museum’s founding trustees for $10,000, paid to Scripps Memorial Hospital on July 26. Trustees obtain formal non-profit organization status as The Art Center in La Jolla. Freda L. Klapp is appointed the first Director.

Architects Robert Mosher and Roy Drew (Architects Mosher Drew, San Diego) modify the Ellen Browning Scripps home to include formal galleries.

Patrick T. Malone appointed Director.

Donald J. Brewer appointed Director.

Sherwood Auditorium, designed by Architects Mosher Drew, opens.

Museum changes name to La Jolla Museum of Art.

Thomas S. Tibbs appointed Director; Board approves focus of Museum to be on ‘‘the art of today’’ with emphasis on work created since 1950.

Name changes to La Jolla Museum of Contemporary Art.

Sebastian ‘‘Lefty’’ Adler appointed Director.

A Night in Monte Carlo------the Museum’s inaugural annual gala------takes place.

Moser and Drew renovation.

Hugh M. Davies appointed Director.

Contemporary Collectors donor group established with mandate to use funds to expand the Museum’s collection and support programs.

Museum establishes a presence in downtown San Diego with a series of storefront gallery spaces; is one of the first museums to provide exhibition materials in Spanish and English, from exhibition text to artworks’ wall labels.

MCASD opens 911--A House Gone Wrong at the Museum’s downtown space, featuring works created by the Border Art Workshop/Taller de Arte Fronterizo, an artists’ collective in San Diego/Tijuana.

Name changes to Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego (MCASD).

MCASD hosts the first U.S. solo museum exhibition of acclaimed sculptor Anish Kapoor.

MCASD organizes La Frontera/The Border: Art About the Mexico/United States Border Experience

MCASD Downtown opens at One America Plaza building, 1001 Kettner Blvd. Exterior designer: Helmut Jahn. Interiors designed by artists Robert Irwin and Richard Fleischner, and architect David Raphael Singer.

La Jolla facility undergoes major expansion and renovation. Architects Venturi, Scott Brown and Associates, Philadelphia, restore Scripps House facade, and expansion includes Axline Court, Edwards Sculpture Garden, and Museum Café

MCASD receives $30 million bequest from Jackie and Rea Axline and funds are directed to Museum’s endowment; their generosity is celebrated annually with the Axline Lecture.

International Collectors support group founded by Irwin and Joan Jacobs.

MCASD stages Strange New World: Art and Design from Tijuana across both its La Jolla and Downtown campuses, making it one of the most ambitious exhibitions of contemporary Tijuanense art to date and the largest exhibition in the museum's history, containing 150 works by forty-one artists, architects, designers, and filmmakers.

Joan and Irwin Jacobs Building and David C. Copley Building open on site of former ‘‘baggage building’’ of the Santa Fe Depot train station. The new facility expands the Museum’s downtown presence, and provides space for large-scale sculptural installations. Architect: Richard Gluckman, Gluckman Mayner Architects, New York.

MCASD begins offering free admission to visitors age 25 and younger, courtesy of the Qualcomm Foundation.

Jenny Holzer installs For MCASD, which employs thousands of LEDs enclosed in clear plastic tubes. The vertical, red lights display phrases such as “Abuse of power comes as no surprise,” “An elite is inevitable,” “A little knowledge can go a long way” and “Eating too much is criminal.”

MCASD Downtown debuts Robert Irwin: Light & Space, a major site-specific commission by the renowned Light & Space artist developed during Irwin’s residency in MCASD’s Robert Caplan Artist-in-Residence Studio.