Griffin Museum of Science and Industry to open original south entrance from 1893 World's Columbian Exposition
The Griffin Museum of Science and Industry is about to break ground on a new project that would take the building back in time.
Built in 1893 as the Palace of Fine Arts for the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition, it is one of only two remaining buildings from that fair before becoming the museum decades later.
A new project aims to reclaim the view from its original days by renovating and reopening its south entrance, which was the building's main entrance during the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition. That entrance faces the Columbia Basin lagoon in Jackson Park and the Osaka Garden on the park's Wooded Island.
"People in the 1800s actually traveled through gondolas in the lagoon, and they walked up these stairs, walked through ticket booths, and saw, were welcomed into this building," said the museum's president and CEO, Chevy Humphrey.
The doors have never been used as a visitors' entrance for the museum, which opened in the 1930s.
"No one can enter from Jackson Park. You see how beautiful Jackson Park is, with the Japanese gardens, this incredible lagoon, and now with the Obama Presidential Center, there needs to be the opening that we need for our visitors," Humphrey said.
The museum is preparing to break ground on a $22 million project to renovate the South Portico. Renderings show the center of the existing staircase will be replaced by a glass entrance topped with a patio.
"You'll walk through a glass entry and be able to come into the museum together as a family," Humphrey said. "There will be a patio that will be … patio balcony that will extend at the height of these walls. and you'll be able to walk out up to here and be able to sit and have a cup of tea or a cup of coffee or a treat."
The idea to reopen the building's south entrance came from the surrounding community in Woodlawn and Hyde Park.
"I went out and met with over 1,000 people my first year and had many community meetings, and community members actually said, 'Why are your doors closed to us when we're visiting Jackson Park?,'" Humphrey said.
Opening the south doors is just one step in the museum's mission.
"It's a part of our whole strategic plan about accessibility, and a space and place where you belong in this museum," Humphrey said.
The museum expects to break ground this fall and complete construction next year.
