Architects of New Barnes Foundation Building Win Award

Among the accolades: the design "honors the Merion facility" by replicating "the scale, proportion, and configuration of the original Merion spaces."

The architects of the new $150 million Barnes Foundation building in Philadelphia are being honored by the American Institute of Architects' 2013 Institute Honor Awards, the institute announced Monday. The Barnes Foundation and its world-renowned art collection, located in Merion Station until July 2011, opened to the public on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway in Philadelphia in Spring 2012. The new facility's design, by Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects, "honors the Merion facility" by replicating "the scale, proportion, and configuration of the original Merion spaces," the American Institute of Architects writes.  The Institute also notes the vastly improved lighting for the $25 billion art collection, as well as additional classroom …

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Ex-CEO: Barnes Wasn't Bankrupt

"At the time the petition was filed, the Barnes Foundation had a cash surplus and we had no debt—none," said Kimberly Camp, ex-CEO of the Barnes Foundation, in a blog.

The Barnes Foundation was not in a strained financial state when it petitioned to move to Philadelphia in 2002, and in fact, it had a cash surplus, according to a June 22, 2012 blog written by ex-Barnes Foundation CEO Kimberly Camp. Camp, who became the CEO of the Barnes Foundation in 1998, oversaw the Barnes as it petitioned to move its $25 billion art collection from its original home in Merion to a new building in Philadelphia. The foundation was granted the right to relocate in late 2004. The new campus opened on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway in May 2012. Financial difficulties were considered to be a major reason for the necessity of the move. "We have no money," Camp testified before court on Dec. 10, 2003, according to a transcript …

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Merion's Barnes Foundation Grounds To Reopen Late Summer

The campus will eventually house a permanent painting collection from Barnes' home and occasional special exhibits.

The Barnes Foundation will continue to use the foundation's Merion campus despite the main collection's move to Philadelphia, Barnes Foundation Executive Director Derek Gillman said Wednesday. The Merion campus arboretum will reopen in late summer 2012, and the collection's old building will eventually house a permanent collection of 40 to 50 paintings Barnes kept in his residence, most recently used as the foundation's administrative building. The foundation's horicultural school and library, the Barnes archives and object conservation will also be housed at the Merion campus. Eventually, the building may also feature occasional special collection exhibitions, according to Gillman. The art collection's move to the Benjamin Franklin …

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Tfa

8:54 pm on Sunday, July 29, 2012

Agreed...what a mockery of trust. If some punk kid had spray-painted moustaches on the Renoirs, they would be in jail. Annenberg, the Pew, Rendell, Street - they are worse than a small-time vandal.   more ›

Poll: Should The Barnes Have Stayed In Merion?

On Saturday, the Barnes Museum opens to the public at its new home on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway in Philadelphia.

After nearly 90 years in Merion Station, Albert Barnes' world-renowned art collection has made its controversial move to Philadelphia, and will be unveiled to the public in its new home on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway on Saturday. The collection—which includes works by Van Gogh, Renoir, Cezanne, Matisse, Picasso, Soutine, Modigliani and Degas, along with some lesser known artists—is estimated to be worth $25 billion. Collector Dr. Albert Barnes created the Barnes Foundation in 1922 as an educational institution, with the philosophy of making art accessible to ordinary people. He requested that his collection never be moved or even rearranged. The Barnes, of course, has moved—and it will be unveiled to the public on Saturday, May 19 in a …

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Winner: Best Local Attraction

Regional winners will be announced this weekend.

The Barnes Foundation gardens and Suburban Square tied for the Best Local Place to Visit in this week's poll. The regional winners will be announced on Sunday. In the meantime, check out some previous articles about the Barnes: Spectrum: What's Left Behind at the Barnes (July 8, 2011) In Merion, Saying Goodbye to the Barnes (June 3, 2011)

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The Barnes: A Ravishing Building, But Cut Off From The City

Inga Saffron, Inquirer architecture critic, reviews the Barnes in its new location on the Parkway.

Barnes Foundation Lawyer Found Dead

Brett Miller, 47, died of an apparent suicide.

The attorney who defended the Barnes Foundation’s move from Merion to Philadelphia was found in his Old City home on Saturday, dead of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound, the Philadelphia Inquirer is reporting. Brett Miller, 47, joined Barnes in late 2009 and served as its general counsel when their proposed move to the Benjamin Franklin Parkway was challenged. "The board of trustees and the staff of the Barnes Foundation are deeply saddened by the tragic loss of our colleague and friend Brett Miller," Derek Gillman, the director of the foundation, said in a statement. "Brett was a hugely valued member of our executive team, and for three years has worked tirelessly to ensure the success of the foundation. He will be greatly missed. …

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Barnes Move Opponents Ordered To Pay $40,000

The Barnes Foundation had asked for more than $60,000 in sanctions.

  Judge Stanley Ott last week upheld sanctions against the Friends of the Barnes and another petitioner who brought suit to stop the move of the Barnes collection from Merion to Philadelphia, according to MainLineMediaNews. Ott ordered several individual members of the Friends group to pay $25,000, according to MainLineMediaNews, and attorney Richard Ralph Feudal, who had filed a separate petition and had written a book on the Barnes Foundation’s saga, to pay $15,000. In October 2011, Ott rejected the request to reopen his 2004 decision, which permitted the move to Philadelphia, and ordered the Friends to pay court the Barnes Foundation’s court costs and lawyers' fees, totaling more than $60,000. Click her to read the court opinion and …

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See Progress On Philadelphia Barnes Building

The Philadelphia home for the Barnes collection is set to open May 19.

As the May 19 opening date nears, Ardmore Patch took a look around the grounds of the new home for the Barnes collection to see how the building and grounds were progressing.

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