Franklin D. Murphy Sculpture Garden

The Franklin D. Murphy Sculpture Garden is a free, open-air sculpture park spanning more than five acres of UCLA’s campus, managed by the Hammer Museum. It features over 70 modern and contemporary works by artists such as Rodin, Moore, Calder, and Matisse, set among landscaped lawns, coral trees, and paved pathways. Admission is free to all visitors with no advance reservation required. Parking is available in UCLA Parking Structure 3 on campus. A self-guided audio tour of nine key works in the garden is available through the Bloomberg Connects app, produced by Hammer Museum student educators. Trained service animals are welcome throughout the garden.

The garden’s design incorporates a formal brick-paved plaza, a walkway lined with coral trees, and curving concrete and asphalt pathways that provide access throughout the site. The landscape includes some undulating terrain and a sloping informal lawn; not all areas are uniformly level. Informal seating areas and benches are distributed throughout the garden. For accessibility inquiries, the Hammer Museum’s dedicated accessibility contact is accessibility@hammer.ucla.edu or 310-443-7020. Sign language interpretation, live transcription, and alternate format materials can be arranged for scheduled tours with at least 10 working days’ notice. While the Hammer Museum building itself (located separately) has dedicated accessible parking on levels P1 and P3, loaner wheelchairs, and accessible restrooms, these amenities are at the Hammer Museum building — not at the Sculpture Garden site on north campus, which is approximately 1.5 miles away.

Visitors note that the garden is tucked among campus buildings and can be a trek from public transit stops, so a printable map from the Hammer Museum website is recommended. Some report that weekend parking on the UCLA campus can be challenging. The open, quiet atmosphere and well-spaced sculptures with individual labels make it an appealing destination for a relaxed, self-paced visit.