Three unique buildings spanning two full centuries will be united this fall when the Portland Museum of Art in Portland, Maine, again opens its doors to the public. Each architecturally significant in its own right, the buildings that will work together to provide Maine with a living history of American museum design are:
• The 1801 Federal style McLellan House, a National Historic Landmark by John Kimball Sr.
• The 1911 Lorenzo de Medici Sweat Memorial Galleries, John Calvin Stevens' Beaux Arts masterpiece
• The 1983 Charles Shipman Payson Building, done in a beautiful I.M. Pei Modern, by Henry Cobb, FAIA, of I.M. Pei & Partners (now Pei Cobb Freed & Partners).

Architecture firm Ann Beha Architects of Boston began the restoration work in 2000 and has been involved with the project from the onset, with Pamela W. Hawkes, AIA, principal architect, and Richard Pancera, AIA, as project architect. The award-winning firm, internationally known for its high-quality museum work, counts the Portland (Ore.) Museum of Art, the Kalamazoo Institute of Arts, and the Cincinnati's Taft Museum of Art. Equally know for their skilled preservation work, the firm served as architect for restoration of the Andover (Mass.) Town Hall and the Preservation Society of Newport (R.I.) building.

A living history of art museums
The first phase of the renovation project turns most of its attention to the site's two older denizens. It will concentrate on the McLellan House, which became a museum in 1908, exemplifying early efforts to preserve American art. Paramount to the project is restoring and reinforcing the house's flying staircase and second-story balcony, as well as its interior walls and roof. When completely restored, the building will become a center for the study of 19th-century American art and employ Federal period bright colors, wall and floor coverings, and furniture. A modern touch: state-of-the-art interactive computer technology at individual work stations in three study centers will allow users to study the history and the architectural and design features of the house, as well as the 19th-century art housed within. The McLellan House also will offer community space for meetings, lectures, and receptions.

Refurbishing the Sweat Memorial Galleries, adjoining the McLellan House, will allow the museum to exhibit a greater portion of its permanent exhibits than ever before. One of the most important activities of this phase of the restoration will be to renovate the skylights of the galleries and add adjustable louvers to control daylight. These galleries serve as a bridge between the early notion of "house as museum" and the modern American art gallery. As such, the Sweat Galleries will showcase American art to 1900. Winslow Homer will have a gallery reserved exclusively for his paintings. The restoration also allows for doubling the amount of studio workspace from that of its previous use.

While the two older buildings get the lion's share of the attention this time around, the 1981 Payson Building will soon be sporting a new roof and a new fire detection system. The modern-faced gallery, which has served as the public side of the museum since it opened two decades ago, will also receive a new phone system that will be integrated with that of its two older siblings. As one more connection among the three structures, Pizzagelli Construction Company, the South Portland firm that oversaw and managed the construction of the Pei building in 1983, is overseeing the restoration work.

Part of a larger plan
The restoration is part of the museum's Century III Campaign, which aims to tie together the museum's buildings. Among the activities the campaign embraces are to:
• Expand studio and storage space
• Add a new library
• Connect the buildings with a service corridor at the lower level
• Upgrade HVAC, electrical, and security systems
• Install an elevator system to make both historic buildings fully accessible.

The current restoration carries a price tag of $8.6 million; the overall project is estimated at $13.5 million. The museum is shooting for completion by the end of next year, the 20th anniversary of the Payson Building.

In the meantime, the refurbished McLellan House and Sweat Galleries will open this fall, just in time for the citywide celebrations of "Portland's Golden Age: 1800–1866," which will take place October through December. Portland's arts and architecture community plans a host of special architecture tours, exhibits, and musical and theater events.

Copyright 2002 The American Institute of Architects. All rights reserved.