The [Addison Gallery of American Art](http://www.andover.edu/addison/home.htm) will be undergoing renovations starting in July 2008 that will keep its doors shut until 2010, according to [a blog quoting an Addison publicist](http://gregcookland.com/journal/2007/09/update-addison-gallery-expansion.html). The plan calls for extensive renovations, which will expand the Addison’s facilities by sixty percent and renovate the building’s structure. The updated building would contain a new multipurpose space where art classes could take place. A [$30 million capital campaign for the Addison](http://www.andover.edu/Addison/BldgProject/BldgProject_Home.htm), chaired by Sidney R. Knafel ’48, was [approved by the Board of Trustees in Spring 2006](http://www.phillipian.net/article?id=2273), with $22 million devoted towards upgrading the physical plant and $8 million committed to the Addison’s endowment. The decision to renovate the building was initially funded by $1 million earmarked for the Addison from last year’s $5 million gift from Trustee Tom Israel ’62. [The New England Journal of Aesthetic Research](http://gregcookland.com/journal/), a blog about Massachusetts private institutions’ art galleries, broke the news in a September 4 posting. The blog also said that the Addison’s most famous pieces will be touring the world in a show entitled “Coming of Age: 1850s to 1950s” during the renovation period. Brian Allen, the gallery’s sixth director, made repairing and expanding the physical plant a priority upon his appointment to the position in 2004. He replaced [Adam Weinberg](http://www.phillipian.net/article?id=485), currently the Director of the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York, whose long-term planning also called for an eventual renovation. The initial strategic plan for expansion was coordinated by the firm Machado and Silvetti Associates, a Boston-based firm that designs art galleries, museums and other structures. In recent years, the firm has designed Harvard’s Fogg Museum of Art and the Exeter football stadium. The Addison has also retained the services of Connecticut-based firm [Centerbrook Architects and Planners](http://www.centerbrook.com/), which focuses on bringing sustainable design to buildings such as museums and libraries. They have recently designed dormitories at Choate Rosemary Hall and several academic buildings at Yale. The gallery, which has not expanded its facilities since being founded by a grant in 1931 from philanthropist Thomas Cochran, has seen its collection grow from 600 pieces to over 16,000 since its founding. The gallery also has 17 full-time staff members, an increase from three at its inception. The plan for expansion focuses on five primary goals: creating the Museum Learning Center as an outreach effort to PA students and other students from the region, increasing storage and display space for their collection, increasing office space for Addison staff, ensuring the Addison’s financial future by endowing four faculty positions, and by renovating and restoring infrastructure in the current building. According to the story, the show has already planned stops in Dallas, London, Venice, and Fort Lauderdale._For more info, see _ [The New England Journal of Aesthetic Research](http://gregcookland.com/journal/2007/09/update-addison-gallery-expansion.html), [Blog Addison](http://www.andover.edu/Addison/BldgProject/BldgProject_Home.htm), or the [Campaign for the Addison](http://www.andover.edu/Addison/BldgProject/BldgProject_Home.htm) website._Last updated: 12:26 p.m., October 3, 2007._
