Newark Museum – Accelerating Access to Exhibits

On Jul 3, 2019

Newark entrepreneur and philanthropist Louis Bamberger commissioned and funded the construction of the Newark Museum building in the 1920s. Today, nearly a century later, his name graces the new front entrance to Newark’s acclaimed art center, connecting the institution’s history with contemporary life in New Jersey’s largest city. The re-envisioned main entryway with its events plaza and distinctive ramp, again opens the museum’s front doors to Washington Park, improving accessibility to the classic building and enhancing visitors’ engagement with the museum’s extraordinary exhibits and programs.

The need for a new museum entrance dates back more than 20 years, when the compromised condition of the museum’s grand bronze doors was hindering the institution’s ability to meet stringent climate control and security for temporary exhibits of borrowed objects. In 1997, the decision was made to shutter the front entrance and pull the bronze doors shut, virtually sealing the museum off from Washington Street and eliminating any engagement with Washington Park.

The museum’s plan to re-open the main entrance, launched in 2015, leveraged its visibility from Washington Park and drew people back to the area by increasing pedestrian activity along Washington Street. Further, by replacing the solid brass doors with glass, visitors can see through the museum’s interior to its historic garden. Replacing a closed gallery for temporary exhibits is a spacious lobby and bright visitor orientation center.

The $5.2-million project employed more than 100 construction workers. Currently, the complex employs a staff of 85 full-time and 81 part-time workers. The museum also provides an important downtown linkage point between the revitalized area around the Hahne & Co. building, Halsey Street retail and Rutgers Newark campus to the south, as well as other Rutgers facilities, commercial office buildings and the Newark Public Library to the north.

Recognizing that the arts contribute to the quality of life and vitality of a community, the reorientation of the Newark Museum’s front entrance reinforces the institution’s undeniable contribution to Newark’s cultural, social and economic vitality.

OWNER

Newark Museum
Newark

ARCHITECT

Michael Graves Architecture
& Design
Princeton

BUILDER

Hollister Construction Services
Parsippany

NOMINATOR

Christopher Johnson
Founder & Head Coach
Hollister Construction Services

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