Centerbrook is restoring and expanding the historic Addison Gallery of American Art, designed in 1930 by Charles Platt. Located on the campus of Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts, the Gallery houses one of the most important collections of American art in the country. It includes work by George Bellows, John Singleton Copley, Thomas Eakins, Winslow Homer, Georgia O’Keeffe, and Jackson Pollock. Now under construction, the Gallery will reopen in Spring 2010.

Restoration
The goal of Centerbrook’s design work on the existing structure is to restore the exterior skin and the interior spaces while seamlessly introducing modern systems of climate control, security, lighting, technology, and utilities. Staff offices now intermingled with galleries on the first floor of the museum will be moved into a new expansion, which will make it possible to return the building’s historic galleries to Platt’s original concept.

Expansion
An 11,800 square foot, three-story expansion will add a progressive presence next to the historic Addison in the form of an elegant glass box sheathed in stainless steel mesh sitting atop a masonry base defined by a simple brick wall. This juxtaposition of a restrained but bold new structure with Platt’s elegant Greek Revival temple will make the definition of the historic building clear while invigorating the institution with a contemporary expression. The new expansion mediates between Platt’s building and the adjacent 1963 Elson Arts Center, designed by The Architects Collaborative.

The ground floor of the expansion houses back of the house spaces, including exhibition preparation facilities and a new loading dock. The first floor houses a new Museum Learning Center, which will provide a well-equipped place where students and visiting scholars can study the collection, attend lectures, and have access to an extensive art library. The second floor consolidates museum offices now scattered throughout the Platt building into a single location.

First Floor