The Architecture sub-collection primarily contains photographs of the Barnum Museum (originally known as the Barnum Institute of Science and History, completed in 1893), including many details of its elaborate exterior in brownstone and terra cotta. The building was designed by architects Longstaff and Hurd, who worked with P. T. Barnum to envision the landmark structure built on Bridgeport's Main Street. The sculptural friezes are the work of Henri Plasschaert, an artist who emigrated from Belgium in the 1880s. Also included are images of the single architectural item remaining from Barnum's first home in Bridgeport, an exotically styled mansion known as Iranistan which burned to the ground in December 1857, only a decade after it was built.
