The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City was designed by Wight and Wight, with Thomas Wight doing most of the design. Its classical Beaux-Arts style was modeled on the Cleveland Museum of Art. It was built on the grounds of Oak Hall, home of the Kansas City Star publisher William Rockhill Nelson, whose bequest funded it, with a bequest from Mary McAfee Atkins. Ground was broken in July 1930, and it opened on December 11, 1933. The six-story building measures 390 by 175 feet (120 by 53 m).
Steven Holl won a 1999 competition for the Bloch Building. It is a 165,000-square-foot (15,300 m²) underground addition topped by five glass pavilions. It opened on June 9, 2007 and cost about $95 million. Dan Kiley designed the sculpture park.
Admission is free. The article gives the original cost as both $2.75 million and about two and a half million dollars.
Comments