This is a small art museum in a beautiful contemporary building that mostly features local artists…read moreto NE Ohio. There are a few recognizable names among the collection such as Mark Rothko and Keith Haring. I visited the museum in March of 2026 and it was my first visit to the museum. My bf and I were done in about 75 minutes. Adult tickets are $12 with some discounts offered to seniors, children, the military, and locals. We saw some impressive pieces, including a gorgeous installation that featured taxidermied peacocks that was definitely the showstopper among every visitor that day. We were bummed that a large section was closed off in preparation for an upcoming exhibit. It meant a lot of non special exhibit art was not viewable to us. A heads up and/or a discount would have been nice. Meanwhile, a viewable exhibit with a gorgeous Tiffany glass window installation was almost missed entirely by us because the doors to get to it were covered up by curtains, giving off the impression that it was closed. Fortunately, we walked through the curtains out of curiosity and saw the glass piece but many others in the museum walked right by it. A sign letting people know that the space was open would be a good idea! The art museum store was closed by the time we were done but from the outside, it looked like a pretty good, if pretty typical, art museum gift shop. It is worth checking out if you are in the Akron downtown area.

Fabulous art, some great classics here and some local artists and quite a few I had never heard of…read more One interesting series in the current photographic exhibit is by Josh Azzarella who "works with historical photographs by removing or abstracting their central imagery." Unique to see the Kent State Shooting without Jeffrey Miller. Lovely to see a Calder and a Magritte here as well. Don't miss the facade of the building which itself is an art piece. I understand that it uses the same steel and glass as was installed in the Louvre. [Review 1351 of 2024 - 270 in Ohio - 22374 overall]

This place is so incredibly cool! My son and I visited just before it closes to the public. Don't…read moreworry, though.....they said they are just migrating to a different spot in Akron, so the closure won't be for long. I found it to be fun, whimsical, and well thought out. My son and I jumped at a couple of the exhibits that we were not expecting to move and we laughed at others. This was a great spot for a 6 year old (and for adults too). I appreciated the clever wit and the careful attention to detail. Thank you for a great run at the Polsky building!

From the owner: Curated Storefront’s World of Wonders Museum features the art of pop funk sculptor Clayton Bailey…read more Clayton Bailey's World of Wonders offers a look into the wild, warped mind of renowned ceramist and prankster Clayton Bailey. Based in California, Bailey gained a worldwide following in the late-Sixties and Seventies through his playful, eccentric creations—including gender- and animal- specific robots, troll-like ceramic heads and sci-fi-inspired oddities that became hallmarks of the era’s Funk Art and Nut Art movements. Media coverage of Bailey often focused on his alter-ego, Dr. George Gladstone, a parody of the classic “mad scientist” obsessed with strange phenomena such as space-age robots, UFOs and Bigfoot. After Bailey passed away in June 2020, Curated Storefront acquired virtually all of the artist’s collection from his estate.

Came here for Mothers Day. Worth the visit to see the house and gardens…read more We were told when you come around Christmas there are not as many rooms open for the house tour. But on Mother's Day we got to see a lot of the rooms we never saw. And got to ask more questions and take our time a bit more. All around good experience. You want to see as many of the rooms as possible. Pro tip. If you are doing a house and garden tour leave the house thru the front door. This way you don't have to back track the gardens. Out the front door take a right to head along the back of the house and the gardens. Don't miss the greenhouse. The Japanese garden and the really all the gardens are beautiful. It's a nice walk. You can definitely get your steps in. It's a nice afternoon. We spent about 2.5 hours. Could have spent longer. But we were hungry. This was a good experience overall and fun afternoon.

Stan Hywet Hall and Gardens is such a beautiful place to visit all year round. I remember going…read morehere several times as a child for field trips and I have always been fascinated with this home. Several years ago I found out that they have special tours at Christmas time where you can tour the house and each room has a different theme and you can also tour the grounds where they have Christmas light displays. I believe the tickets this past Christmas or $28 each which goes towards keeping up the estate and grounds. I feel like that's a fair price. There is so much to see in the estate and out on the grounds and I suggest coming here during the year as well for a regular tour. The Christmas decor is so beautiful each room in the estate is typically sponsored by a local business. It's so interesting to see some of the old furniture, dishes, light fixtures, truly whatever you can think of it's all so beautiful. They even have a greenhouse on the property where you can go to purchase plants, especially poinsettias for the Christmas season. They have a little concession stand where they sell things like hot chocolate, coffee, wine and beer, cookies, chili, soft pretzels, etc. Santa even stops by during certain hours where you can visit him. Overall, this is one of my favorite places to visit during the Christmas season and as a child I loved coming here during the year.

Hower House is a historical home in downtown Akron that is stunning and unique both inside and out…read more It's quite surprising inside with spacious rooms on three levels and gorgeous woodwork and chandeliers. The rooms are lavishly furnished and decorated. The Christmas tour is especially good this year (2025). I highly recommend a visit if you haven't seen this lovely house. There is a small free parking lot in the back (enter from S. Forge St.) and then you walk around the house to enter at the front door. The gift shop on the lower level has some very nice merchandise and is fun to visit after touring the house.

This Second Empire style mansion is quite lovely. I had visited here once before during undergrad,…read morebut that has been well over 20 years ago. The volunteer docents are very friendly. The home has lots of beautiful decor and they had recently decorated for the holidays (a little early, but I wasn't disappointed to see how lovely of a job they had done). No photos are allowed inside. I found this to be disappointing. The gift shop was closed the day I visited because the employee didn't show up. The carriage house was also closed, because something was needing to be fixed. So I can't comment on either of those two things. Apparently most days they offer coffee and tea, but not the day I was there. The house had a delicious aroma of coffee brewing, though. The Hower family was very well-traveled. I enjoyed seeing items they had brought back from the many countries they had visited to adorn the beautiful home. I couldn't figure out if the tour was supposed to be guided or not. The docents kind of followed me around and told me facts about certain things, but I could have sworn they said it was self-guided when I walked in. It was fine, and certainly a nice gesture, but sometimes I like kind of wandering at my own pace. The docents are also reluctant to talk about the ghost stories. There have been a variety of things published about this house being haunted, and I remember a couple grad students lived at the house as care-takers when I was in school. They had heard and seen some interesting things at night. When I asked a couple of the volunteers about the things that go bump in the night I got a very quick "This house is not haunted" reply. Hmmm......

My son and I visited for a trick or treat event for children. The house is quite lovely and I found…read moremyself wanting to learn more about it, but the trick or treat moves fairly swiftly and there isn't time for history. That said, my son enjoyed it and I did too. His favorite part was visiting the lovely sheep grazing outside. The inside of the house was well decorated and there was a craft outside in the small guest house on the property. We were there early so parking was pretty easy. Volunteers were friendly, although the ticketing/check in process was a little confusing. The door was open, but the guy working seemed unclear on whether they were ready for us to come in or not, and directed us to the craft area before we paid and got our stamps. One day I'll come back when it's less hectic to explore and learn more about this interesting piece of Akron history.

I went after hours, walked around, they had live sheep. but being called "Mutton Hill" I got a…read morelittle chuckle out of that. the land is huge but has divots in the grass so be careful. I loved walking the grounds.

Plenty of activities or stations with themes . Hospital, store, etc for kids ages 3-8read more

My child (3) loves this place! It's nice being able to take him somewhere like this in the winter…read more That said, the ACM is something my nightmares are made of. This place is FILTHY. I am not sure I've ever said that in a review. But I've now been here pre-covid and post. And I still feel this place needs a new cleaning crew, maybe a long weekend to sanitize every surface. My background is in nursing and public health, and I was just appalled at how gross the toys and structures were. I don't mind letting my child play at indoor facilities - it's nothing I have a "rule" against. But after finding layers of visible dirt/grime on almost everything we saw during our December visit, I was disgusted. Then that water table someone else mentioned... it's had this horrible rotting odor for years. I couldn't believe it's still there. But it is, still giving off an offensive stench that's pretty noticeable several yards away. There is a costume area with a stage, and the costumes have seen much better days. I cringed every time my son put on a hat or helmet - every toy/material here had some type of a smell and I wondered if anyone has ever put the costumes in a machine washer or wiped down the helmets? I was pretty surprised I didn't see any staff walking around, perhaps wiping surfaces or helping direct the masses of excited children. It was only $5 to get in, but I'm not sure why they can't charge a few dollars more and make the museum a clean, safer place for children. In December, covid, flu, and RSV were pretty prevalent in our area and I was nauseous thinking what we could have brought home with all of the disgusting things my son touched. I wish I could say we'd be back, especially as my son loves it, but this place is always a hard pass in my book.

I've been here twice recently: once for trick or treat with my son and once for a holiday open…read morehouse specifically for members of a couple other historical sites in Akron. Both times were interesting and I learned a lot at the open house. The trick or treat was more fast-paced, so not a lot of time to ask questions about the history, but the open house was very relaxed and I had lots of great conversations with the docents. This house is very haunted, especially by Martha in the upstairs bedroom in the back of the house. I also walked over to the John Brown house. I had never been there. I am still confused about who exactly John Brown was. He was loved and hated; he was revered and despised. That house is much smaller than the Perkins house, but it is open to the public and there is some interesting history there too. They were also housing an art exhibit featuring barns of Ohio. (See my photo with this). My son's favorite part of our October visit to Perkins was the sheep grazing on the lawn outside with the beautiful autumn colors in the background. I learned the other day that they are "borrowed" for the summer and autumn, and then go to warmer pastures in the summer.

From the owner: Founded in 1924, the mission of Summit County Historical Society, a 501(c)3 corporation, is to…read morepreserve and interpret the history of Summit County and Akron, and to educate regional communities about the people and events that have shaped our rich history. The Society owns and manages several properties including the Perkins Stone Mansion, home of Akron's founding family; John Brown House, home of the internationally recognized abolitionist; and Old Stone School in downtown Akron - a partnership with Akron Public Schools. Two of the properties are open to visitors, the John Brown Home and the Perkins Stone Mansion.