I am happy to introduce a new voice on the Nelson-Atkins blog. "Barb the Builder" will update us frequently on the progress of the American and American Indian gallery renovations on the second floor of the Nelson-Atkins Building.
And now, from Barb the Builder:
Demolished materials from the former American period rooms, including antique wood beams and ceiling planks, lie in a jumbled heap on the floor of their former home. Their demise reveals the infrastructure of the 1933 building, including tar-coated brick walls −a moisture-barrier technique used in the original construction. Have we ever come a long way since then!
This space will become two large American art galleries. Directly above, on a mezzanine level, was the old studio for the Museum’s graphic design department. This mezzanine floor will be cut away, resulting in more expansive ceiling heights in the new American galleries. One of the period rooms, the Hooper room (from the Robert Hooper House
of Danvers, Massachusetts ca. 1754), will be reinstalled immediately east of the old contemporary art space, directly across from the south elevator.