Honoring internationally renowned architect Frank Gehry, leader of the design team for the Philadelphia Museum of Art Master Plan.

WHEREAS, On March 30, 2017 the Philadelphia Museum of Art will celebrate the official groundbreaking of the next phase of the Museum’s Facilities Master Plan, the Core Project. The Core Project is the most complicated phase of the Master Plan and represents the first major interior renovation of the Museum since the Main Building opened in 1928; and

WHEREAS, The Museum’s Facilities Master Plan, which was adopted by the Museum’s Board of Trustees in 2006, is led by internationally renowned architect Frank Gehry. The Core Project will add 23,000 square feet of new gallery space for the Museum to display more of its renowned American, Contemporary and Modern art collections; and

WHEREAS, The Core Project is an $196 million project that will transform the Museum interior and infrastructure by renovating, renewing and expanding public spaces. One of the highlights of the Core Project is the reopening of the Museum’s Kelly Drive entrance and the magnificent Vaulted Walkway that has been closed to the public since the 1960s; and

WHEREAS, The Core Project will also remove the Museum’s Van Pelt Auditorium, unclogging the arteries of the building and allowing for the creation of a two-story open space, called the Forum. The Forum will serve as an important new programming space for the Museum’s Education Department; and

WHEREAS, The Philadelphia Museum of Art began as a legacy of the great Centennial Exhibit of 1876, held in Fairmount Park. At the conclusion of the celebrations, Memorial Hall, which had been constructed as the Exhibition’s art gallery, remained open as the Pennsylvania Museum and School of Industrial Art; and

WHEREAS, In the 1890s civic leaders determined to construct a new building to house the Museum’s growing art collection. The architectural firms of Horace Trumbauer and Zantinger, Borie and Medary collaborated to design the building. The final design of the building is largely attributed to two architects working at the Trumbauer Firm, Howell Lewis Shay and Julian Abele, the first African American to graduate from the University of Pennsylvania’s Architecture Department; and

WHEREAS,, The Philadelphia Museum of Art is a vital educational resource and an important economic driver for the region’s economy welcoming close to 800,000 visitors and providing educational programming for more than 65,000 students in 2016; now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED, BY THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA, That it hereby honors internationally renowned architect Frank Gehry, leader of the design team for the Philadelphia Museum of Art Master Plan.

FURTER RESOLVED, That an Engrossed copy of this resolution be presented to the Philadelphia Museum of Art as evidence of the strong support of this legislative body and which will then be placed in a time capsule at the Groundbreaking Celebration, not to be opened until 2067, 50 years from the event.

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