NATIONALLY RENOWNED DESIGN FIRMS TO PRESENT PLANS
FOR COUNTY’S FIRST HISTORY MUSEUM
PALM BEACH, Fla. (October 28, 2003)--- The
Historical Society of Palm Beach County has invited four
of the nation’s leading museum design firms to present
their concepts for the exhibit build-out of the county’s
first history museum inside the to-be-restored 1916 county
courthouse in Downtown West Palm Beach. The presentations
will be made on Nov. 20 and 21, from 1:00 p.m. to 5:30 p.m.
in the McEaddy Conference Room, 12th floor of the Governmental
Center, located at 301 North Olive Avenue in Downtown West
Palm Beach. The public is invited to attend.
Vincent Ciulla Design; Gallagher and Associates;
Quatrefoil; and Gerard Hilferty & Associates, Inc.,
will present their museum and exhibit designs to Palm Beach
County’s Board of County Commissioners, West Palm
Beach’s city commissioners and other government officials,
in addition to representatives from the Historical Society
of Palm Beach County.
THE DESIGN FIRMS
Based in New York, with offices in Sarasota,
Fla. and Seattle, W.A., Vincent Ciulla Design has been creating
educational museum experiences for over 30 years. It has
executed exhibit designs for the Smithsonian Institution;
the National Trust for Historic Preservation; Colonial Williamsburg
Foundation; Grand Canyon National Park and Henry Ford Museum
and Greenfield Village.
Gallagher and Associates, based in Bethesda,
M.D., has designed exhibits for all ages in a variety of
fields, including education, culture, science and history.
Its portfolio includes work for the International Spy Museum;
the Smithsonian Institution; the Florida Center of Political
History & Governance; and the Museum of Dallas History.
Maryland-based Quatrefoil is renowned for
its interactive, multimedia exhibits. It has developed projects
for the National Air and Space Museum at the Smithsonian
Institution; the Delta Cultural Center; the Coastal Discovery
Center and the Experience Music Project, an interactive
music museum designed for Microsoft co-founder, Paul Allen.
Gerard Hilferty & Associates has developed
over a hundred museums since 1971 in the fields of technology,
science, natural history, cultural history and Native American
history. Its portfolio includes the Orange County Regional
History Center; the IGFA Fishing Hall of Fame & Museum
in Ft. Lauderdale; the Lewis and Clark Visitors Center;
the John James Audubon Museum and Naturalist Center; and
the Carnegie Museum of Natural History.
In February 2003, Palm Beach County’s
Board of County Commissioners voted unanimously to grant
space to the Historical Society of Palm Beach County to
house its headquarters and a county-wide history museum
on the third and fourth floors of the historic 1916 county
courthouse. Expected to be completed sometime in 2006, the
12,000 sq.-ft. museum will be free to Palm Beach County
residents. Restoration of the courthouse is expected to
begin in 2004.
Once completed, Palm Beach County’s
history museum will include over 3,000 sq.-ft. of permanent
gallery space featuring state-of-the art, interactive exhibits
designed to engage both children and adults. The exhibits
will reflect the influences of Palm Beach County’s
many cultures and diverse history, from the earliest Native
American inhabitants to the present day. Nearly 700 sq.-ft.
of gallery space will be dedicated to temporary and traveling
exhibits, many on display from the county’s other
historical organizations. Centrally located inside the museum,
the two-story, 2,897 sq.-ft. restored courtroom will illustrate
the county’s legislative and judicial history and
provide area students with the opportunity to learn about
their local government. The Historical Society will also
include a library accessible by the public for historical
research. The remaining space will be used for archives
and the organization’s offices.
Palm Beach County will pay for the $18.5 million
required to restore the 1916 courthouse. Contingent upon
a lease agreement to be signed with the county, the Historical
Society has committed to pay for the build-out of the museum’s
galleries and exhibits and the $700,000 estimated annual
operating expenses. The county has agreed to provide most
of the space inside the courthouse to the Historical Society
for free.
For more information about the Historical
Society of Palm Beach County and the plans to create Palm
Beach County’s first county-wide history museum, contact
Historical Society executive director, Loren Mintz, (561)
832-4164.
SCHEDULE OF MUSEUM PRESENTATIONS:
Thursday, November 20
