The exhibition “Home on the Hill: The Altering Face of the Bruce Museum,” opening Saturday, April 4, will discover how the views of the Greenwich web site have reworked over time.
The massive granite mansion that lawyer, clergyman and historian the Rev. Dr. Francis Lister Hawks constructed within the late-1850s was first often known as “Hawk’s Nest,” reflecting the identify of its proprietor, native wildlife, and commanding location excessive on a hill overlooking Lengthy Island Sound and the encompassing salt marsh, woods, farmland and burgeoning village of Greenwich, in accordance with a museum information launch.
In 1858, the imposing non-public residence was bought by rich service provider Robert Moffat Bruce, who, a half-century later, deeded the property to the City of Greenwich, stipulating that it’s used as a “… museum for the use and advantage of the general public.” In so doing, he additionally lent his identify to what would grow to be the Bruce Museum, established in 1912.
Quite a few historic pictures within the exhibit will present the evolution of the construction, from its conversion from mansion to trendy museum highlighting the intersections of artwork and science.
A few of these adjustments have been delicate, some have been profound. Within the Fifties, the museum was threatened by the deliberate route of the Connecticut Thruway (now integrated into Interstate 95). The state compensated Greenwich for the misplaced parkland, and funds had been used to assemble a serious addition to the museum, which was unveiled in 1958.
The constructing was modified once more in 1992-93, a renovation and enlargement that allowed it to maintain tempo with each its foundational position in the neighborhood and museum requirements of the day.
Serving to inform the story of the Bruce Museum’s architectural historical past are quotes and citations from founding workers, group leaders and guests each younger and previous over the generations.
The exhibition shall be on view within the Bantle Lecture Gallery by way of Might 31, a second in time that coincides with the following iteration of the altering face of the Bruce Museum: the July 2020 groundbreaking for the New Bruce addition, a transformative mission that may develop the museum from 30,000 sq. ft to greater than 70,000 sq. ft, including state-of-the-art exhibition galleries for artwork and science, new training areas, and a restaurant, auditorium and public areas.
The bold mission to reimagine the Bruce has been continuing in phases. A top-to-bottom renovation of the museum’s altering gallery areas, begun in September 2019, was accomplished on time to host the opening of main new exhibitions of artwork and science on February 1. The present part of the development mission is now below method: the renovation and reinvention of the everlasting science gallery.
The centerpiece of the New Bruce is the William L. Richter Artwork Wing. Designed by the award-winning New Orleans agency of EskewDumezRipple, the three-story addition will open immediately onto Bruce Park and have a fragile striated façade of solid stone and glass impressed by the surfaces of Connecticut’s quarries and the rock outcrops of Bruce Park.
“Because the museum proceeds with its bold enlargement plan, it is very important see the historical past of how we now have arrived at this momentous event,” stated Timothy Walsh, Collections Supervisor and, because the Museum’s archivist and resident historian, curator of the exhibition.
The exhibition obtained assist from Susan and Invoice Mahoney, Heidi Brake Smith and Scott M. Smith, the Charles M. and Deborah G. Royce Exhibition Fund and the Connecticut Workplace of the Arts. For extra details about the Marketing campaign for the New Bruce, go to NewBruce.org.
Bruce Museum, 1 Museum Drive, Greenwich. Saturday, April 4-Sunday, Might 31. 203-869-0376, brucemuseum.org
