Masur Museum of Art

The carriage house stands twenty feet behind the levee — the only trace of how far the Ouachita River once came up the lawn. When the Army Corps of Engineers built the levee system in the 1930s, they moved the carriage house that distance and no farther. The main house, built in modified Tudor style in 1929, stayed put. A lumberman named Clarence Edward Slagle had it built for his wife Mabel and called it Grey Gables. Indiana limestone and Pennsylvania blue slate came down the waterways to the Ouachita River, which runs behind the estate. The grounds included an English-style rose garden and a lawn that ran to the water. Slagle died in 1934. His widow sold the house to the Masur family. Sigmund and Beatrice Masur and their children — Sylvian, Jack, and Bertha Marie — lived there until the 1960s. In 1963 the Masur children gave the house to the City of Monroe to be converted into a fine art museum. In 1982 the building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places for its architecture. It is the largest visual arts museum in northeast Louisiana. At first the museum ran on docents and volunteers. In 1974 the Twin City Art Foundation was formed to fund exhibitions, educational programs, and the permanent collection. The museum still operates as a partnership between the city and the foundation. The permanent collection includes works by Thomas Hart Benton, Mary Cassatt, Philip Guston, Joan Miró, Robert Motherwell, Pablo Picasso, Auguste Rodin, Salvador Dalí, Alex Katz, Fairfield Porter, and Georges Rouault. Louisiana artists in the collection include Lynda Benglis, Clyde Connell, Alexander John Drysdale, John Geldersma, Ida Kohlmeyer, Eugene J. Martin, and George Rodrigue. Long-term loans on rotating view include works by Marc Chagall, Joan Miró, Pablo Picasso, and Pierre-Auguste Renoir. The Lower River Gallery hosts lectures, films, and artist talks. The carriage house is used for art classes, summer art camps, workshops, and demonstrations. Admission is free.