By Paul Thompson

Northeast News

March 30, 2017

KANSAS CITY, Missouri –  Less than a week before Kansas City, Missouri residents cast their votes on an $800 million General Obligation bond package that would include millions of public dollars for the renovation and restoration of the Kansas City Museum’s Corinthian Hall, area voters were offered a glimpse of just how bright the future of the Museum could be.

At a Wednesday, March 29 open house, the Kansas City Museum displayed a litany of conceptual renderings that revealed exactly how close the project is to being shovel-ready – and how impressive the visitor experience can become. Highlights of the open house included renderings featuring future amenities such as a lower-level billiards room, a new Museum gift shop to be located in the sun room, a sleek new Museum cafe on the first floor of Corinthian Hall, and the return of a spruced-up soda fountain in the mansion’s lower level. In addition, renderings displayed during the showcase portrayed historical collections and a public meeting space on the second floor, as well as plans for a renovated third-floor that would include new exhibition galleries, a theater, and a state-of-the-art interactive area for recording personal stories. During the open house, the public was also invited to help record lines for an upcoming promotional video.

Those who are working closely on the project hope that the open house serves as a motivating factor as KCMO voters prepare to head to the polls on April 4.

“I think the biggest thing we want to do is to make the public aware that this is actually going to happen,” said Andy Short of architecture firm International Architects Atelier. “There’s been so many false starts and good intentions in the past. It’s really going to happen, and we want them to see what it’s going to look like.”

The cost estimate for all phases of the renovation and restoration of Corinthian Hall currently sits at $15 million, with $7 million of that figure set to come through the $50 million total outlay for public buildings and ADA compliance contained within Question 3 of the G.O. Bond package – provided the measure is approved by 57.1% of voters. That $7 million is no small factor in the renovation and restoration process: if Question 3 fails, portions of Corinthian Hall – such as the high-concept third floor – will likely remain closed for the foreseeable future. Director of Collections and Curatorial Services Denise Morrison has been with the Kansas City Museum since 1988, and has seen funding opportunities come and go in the past. She’d like to see the current bid for public funding come to fruition.

“I get a sense of excitement and hope that we’re finally to a point where we can make it a reality. I’ve been around the Museum for a long time, and we’ve been through these stages several times,” said Morrison. “This is the furthest we’ve gotten, and I think momentum is building. Momentum is something we’ve lacked in the past.”

Though she knows that some work will continue even without the G.O. Bond funds, Morrison hopes that the Museum doesn’t have to re-open after construction without access to the third floor.

“A lot of the new, really technological and exciting stuff is going to happen on the third floor,” said Morrison. “The oral history and the ‘Our Stories’ section, the changing galleries, that’s all going to happen on the third floor.”

During a conversation ahead of the open house, Kansas City Museum Executive Director Anna Marie Tutera relayed a similar hope.

“We would like to be able to do the entire mansion – all the floors – at one time,” said Tutera. “This project is going to happen. It really is a matter of, to what extent are we going to be able to do the mansion for this first stage.”

For more information regarding the renovation and restoration of Corinthian Hall, visit kansascitymuseum.org and click on the ‘Renovation’ tab at the top of the page. A new website related to the capital campaign, makingamuseumkc.org, is expected to launch sometime in mid-May and will feature include details such as construction progress and fundraising goals. To listen to the latest edition of the Northeast Newscast, featuring Kansas City Museum Executive Director Anna Marie Tutera, check out the podcast link below.