PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — After two decades of planning, the Philadelphia Museum of Art now has new event and gallery space that never before existed, and there are a lot more renovations expected this decade.
Museum director and CEO Timothy Rub said planning and fundraising for the Core Project began in the early 2000’s.
“It covered 140,000 square feet of the building and opened 90,000 square feet of public space and gallery space inside the building," Rub said.
“We announced the creation of a facilities master plan in 2005, hired Frank Gehry to do it, and then we set out to raise the money we needed to do it.“
Fundraising took 12 years, and they raised $233 million. Construction took four years.
The project upgraded the museum entrance with an ADA accessible ramp at the “front” of the museum, not at the Rocky steps in the “back”, and opened up the entire middle — or core — of the building.
“When people go inside they’ll see Lenfest Hall which was also renovated," said Engineer Steve Thomas.
He said that behind Lenfest Hall, there is now an event space called Williams Forum that leads to additional gallery space through arches on either side.
“This forum as you see it never existed in the past. What we’re standing on is the old historic tunnel that was closed off for 50 years to the public, not seen," Thomas said.
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"This was storage, Nothing special, and directly over our head was the auditorium that was used just internally for museum functions. That was all removed and now this entire space is open as a large event space.”
Thomas explained the project involved creating windows through thick walls, getting rid of large columns and excavating down to create additional space.
"There were major walls down here that were part of the intended subway tunnel back when the building was designed in 1919, 1920," Thomas said.
"This was going to be a connection to the city of Philly subway system. They abandoned that plan for whatever reason, so this was kind of abandoned space underground, in dirt.”
The result is a space three stories deep in the Philadelphia Museum of Art that’s easily accessible from the entrance, which was also renovated to be ADA accessible.
Future plans include extending the excavations to create additional gallery space underneath the plaza with the fountain at the top of the Rocky steps, but Rub says that will take place later this decade after they raise funds for it.