Meringoff Family Foundation

Since the Children’s Museum of Manhattan was founded as a grass-roots organization in 1973, more than a generation of young visitors have explored its exhibitions — on everything from bodily functions to the nuances of Japanese culture — with many returning years later with curious little ones of their own.

Now the museum itself is growing up.

On Dec. 22, it completed the $45 million purchase of a new home: the former Church of Christ, Scientist, at 96th Street and Central Park West. Although the site is little more than a dozen blocks from the museum’s present West 83rd Street location, the space is leagues away in what it can accomplish.