The Walker Art Center is a multidisciplinary contemporary art center in Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States. The Walker is considered one of the nation's "big five" museums for modern art along with the Museum of Modern Art, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the Guggenheim Museum and the Hirshhorn. Begun in 1879 as the personal art gallery of lumberman Thomas Barlow Walker, it was formally established as a public art gallery in 1927—the first of its kind in the Upper Midwest. Its building, designed by Edward Larrabee Barnes and opened in May 1971, saw a major expansion in 2005: Swiss architects Herzog & de Meuron's addition, clad in a shimmering aluminum-mesh facade, includes new gallery space, a theater, restaurant, shop, and special events space.