The first large-scale expansion and upgrade to the building that houses the Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Art Museum and the DeWitt Wallace Decorative Arts Museum since its opening in 1985 is slated to break ground in April 2017. “The expansion means the creation of dedicated gallery spaces for fine art, costumes, archaeological artifacts, weapons, numismatics, and a host of other materials that are now too rarely seen,” said Ron Hurst, Carlisle Humelsine chief curator and vice president for collections, conservation, and museums.
When it opens in 2019, the new wing will add 65,000 square feet with a 22-percent increase in gallery space to the Art Museums, which will enable the Art Museums to show considerably more of their celebrated collections. It will also significantly improve public access to the building through a new visitor-friendly entrance on Nassau Street. This new entryway will replace a circuitous, partly-underground route with a tunnel and multiple stairs through the reconstructed Public Hospital of 1773, which was the first building in North America dedicated to treatment of the mentally ill.
The short video above offers a quick tour of the expansion plans.
The project has been the primary capital priority of The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation’s $600 million Campaign for History and Citizenship. To date, all but $1.6 million of the $40 million budgeted for the expansion has been raised. Both the Boards of Trustees for the Art Museums of Colonial Williamsburg (as the two museums are collectively known) and the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation gave their final approvals of the expansion plans when they held their respective meetings on November 17 and 19.
The Art Museums of Colonial Williamsburg are home to internationally renowned collections of American folk art through the present day and to British and American fine and decorative arts from 1670-1840. The Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Art Museum, which will celebrate its 60th anniversary in 2017, is the oldest, continuously operating institution in the United States dedicated solely to the collection, exhibition and preservation of American folk art.
The DeWitt Wallace Decorative Arts Museum, which marked its 30th anniversary last year, features furniture, paintings, silver, numismatics, ceramics, tools, textiles, maps, weapons and other media. Combined, these diverse and extensive collections play critical roles in Colonial Williamsburg’s mission to inform and engage Americans in the dramatic story of their country’s founding.
“The Art Museums of Colonial Williamsburg are the crown jewels of the Foundation. The collections they house are the foundation upon which we tell America’s enduring story,” said Colonial Williamsburg President and CEO Mitchell B. Reiss. “We can now provide our guests a grand museum entrance worthy of the priceless artifacts they contain.”
Additional enhancements will include:
- A new lobby and orientation space overlooking the pastoral site of the John Custis House and Garden, and a grand concourse that will provide access to both museums which will improve visibility of the complex to guests approaching on foot from the Historic Area.
- An expanded museum café and store will move to lobby level where they may be accessed without a ticket and will be bathed in natural light through new, expansive windows overlooking the picturesque Bicentennial Park.
- Parking, including that for the mobility challenged, will be considerably improved.
- Colonial Williamsburg buses will pick up and drop off passengers right at the museum entrance. The current bus stop is near the intersection of Henry and Francis Streets.
- Space and equipment for efficient museum operations and exhibition presentations.
- New and upgraded mechanical and climate-control systems.
- Expanded programming and activities to engage visitors.
New York-based architectural firm Samuel Anderson Architects has been selected to design the expansion, construction for which is anticipated to take approximately 24 months to complete. In 2006, the same firm designed the space that now houses the Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Art Museum when it moved from its previous location in the building that now houses The Spa of Colonial Williamsburg.
“Colonial Williamsburg is a place that grounds us in the principles that have sustained us as a nation for more than 240 years, and our world-class Art Museums—unparalleled in their collections, exhibitions, and programming—are critical to telling our unique American story,” said Steve Miller, Colonial Williamsburg Foundation trustee and campaign chairman. “The Art Museums of Colonial Williamsburg will soon take their rightfully prominent place in the Williamsburg landscape, and we are thrilled.”
Please consider supporting the museum expansion with a gift to the capital campaign. Learn more here.
Mary Bancroft says
I thought the cafe was big enough. I did notice unused space near by. The shop was small so that doesn’t bother me. But I went at a very quiet time.
i have visited the Art museums ever since they were built in and under the hospital building. I am a retired museum curator and every foot should possible should be used for exhibit spaces. There does not need to be another restaurant space in the building. There are already enough space to shop at CW.
I am looking forward to seeing the new building!
Philadelphia is about to get a new Museum of the American Revolution; I hope that they can work with CW as they share the same subject matter!
Mary Bancroft says
My Vernon it’s a couple of hours away. But open 365 days of year Monticello, and other presidents homes. And plantations near charles city.
We are bringing family and friends for the New Year’s week, Most have never been to Colonial Williamsburg. I bought annual passes for all and I was planning a wonderful week. Through an accidental comment by a phone ticket person (checking on skating tickets) I was told that Colonial Williamsburg homes and buildings and museums will be closed starting January 3-?. What a disappointment. We all live out of the area, most out of state. There should have been some kind of information on their or your website stating this before I went ahead and bought the annual passes and we made all the arrangements for our visit. It is too late to change vacations and have prepaid accommodations.So, Is there any special things going on New Year’s Eve except hotel/lodge parties?
By the way I think scanners on colonial looking posts are a much better idea than hand held. Keep it colonial. Keep the interpreters doing the jobs we expect.
Mary Bancroft says
Better yet, if you have to scan a ticket. Why not have a scanner on a post that people use to scan as they enter the building. You could make it look rustic. And better yet, no labor is used the people could still sit out side and do stuff. I liked it when one man was playing the flut as he stood out side the governors palace! I loved that! I like the above one in which they may have a board game, whittling, knitting ECt. Like the woman in the green house was working on a quilt. Here in Massachusetts stop and shop uses scanners for shopping. They are free standing, and now you can use your phone. You don’t need any body to help you shop , most the time.
I think the expansion of the art museums is a wonderful opportunity for CW to showcase its extensive museum collections!! The current entrance through the public hospital is confusing and misleading-although clever for the time in which it was designed.
As far as conversion to self-guided for Great Hopes and the Public Jail: This is becoming a trend in many historic sites due to limited staffing and less of an interest in “face to face” contacts as the younger (millenial) generation prefers. Many NPS (National Park Service) sites have gone this route, especially cell phone tours and wayside interpretive exhibits.
Just because these sites have been converted to self guided does not mean they will always be that way. The scanning of admission passes is the way to document what sites get the most foot traffic and subsequently more staffing. Walt Disney World has been doing this for YEARS!!!!
David says
I agree that the museums are important, especially in less than perfect weather, but I believe that the Historic Area is what sets CW apart from the hundreds of other museums in Virginia. I think a self- guided tour of the museums would be wonderful, but what makes the Historic Area great, is the face-to-face interactions with the Interpreters.
In my experience with those who use the scanners every day, I have learned that they slow down the admission process as well as hinders the ability to interact with guests. Ted Maris-Wolf, Colonial Williamsburg’s vice president for education, research and historical interpretation, told the Orientation Interpreters that they should be doing something. They should be doing something like games or projects that can be interpreted to the guests. If the IO is going to scan everybody’s ticket, they cant focus on interpreting to guests. Hospitality is what makes Colonial Williamsburg awesome, and the scanners take away from that. The scanners take the guest out of that time period.
Brian H says
I know for one the scanners would detract from my experience of visiting the Historic Area. It seems weird how CW approaches technology these days, One day they have a blog post talking about how the HA is best enjoyed phone stowed in pocket and turned off, then the next day they were promoting a Pokemon Go walk. It just seems like the scanners are the wrong way to go as money becomes tighter for HA operations and guest numbers continue to drop. Wonder how much they cost altogether?
David says
I am very familiar with the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, and go every day. To me, this seems like a massive waste of money. Any money spent, should go toward getting new guests and making the Great Hopes Plantation something worth seeing. Attendance has dropped in the past few years and even the summers are slow. The museums are wonderful as they are. The money would better be used elsewhere. I regularly go to CW, and the changes to the museums will not affect my attendance, but it seems like a waste of money.
P.S. The scanners the Orientation Interpreters use, were the biggest waste of money and time. No one likes them- the interpreters hate them as well as the guests. I hope they are discontinued by the new year!
Brian H says
I agree. I just wish more resources were being poured into what makes CW one a kind the Historic Area programming. The conversion of the Gaol and Great Hopes to Signage and the restriction of the Powell House to school groups are troubling indeed. I would’ve thought the Historic Area would have been the real “crown jewel” of CW, but now I’m not so sure. it seems like there is too much of a focus on things that are not uniquely CW.