The John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum stands on Columbia Point in Boston's Dorchester neighborhood, beside UMass Boston. I. M. Pei designed it for the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library Corporation, formed by the Kennedy family and friends. Ground was broken on June 12, 1977, and Jimmy Carter helped dedicate it on October 20, 1979. It was rededicated on October 29, 1993.
The article calls the design a simple geometric structure with a large glass pavilion. The 10-acre (4 ha) site was raised 15 feet (4.6 m) because it was a former garbage dump. A concrete tower 125 feet (38 m) tall holds offices and archives, a circular section holds two theaters, and a glass pavilion 115 feet (35 m) high joins them. Construction cost $20.8 million.
The collection holds about 400,000 photographs and 24 million documents. A 2013 fire began in a mechanical room.
Comments