Looks like Philly might get the Barnes Museum afterall, almost inspite of itself (okay mostly inspite of Jahnie Blackwell). MarketStEl, is there anything outhere on the interwebs detailing the stadium selection process. I wasn't living in town at the time it happened, but there's little shock that Fumo was prominently involved.

__________________
"What's up Pops!" - Lebron James to Bush 41.

Which is why this is such an interesting subject to discuss. If there were an easy answer, it'd be boring....

she was just mentioning that she or he was from Buffalo as a point of reference.

The main point of the post was that the barnes in merion is the ANTIthesis of what mr barnes desired through his will. well, the pro-merion supporters are quick to point out that mr barnes was against the philadelphia establishment when he established his collection in merion and made sure at the time that priority access was granted to working class people. if that is what we are trying to protect; than what is the benefit of keeping the art collection on latches lane besides the fact that 50 plus years ago (at the advent of the suburb community and pre-white flight) merion seemed like the best place to achieve this goal and the facts cannot support achieving this goal more in merion than in Philly?

He -- I've met him.

And it's not just a point of reference; it was a basis for comparison; go back and read his post again.

However, he was more concerned with addressing the same subject you are below:

Whether or not you are aware of this, you've brought out another reason this subject is more complex than the ordinary dispute.

It is true that Barnes had a major beef with Philadelphia high society, especially after it dissed his art collection when he unveiled it in the gallery he built for it. It is therefore quite possible, given what we know about Dr. Barnes' own eccentricity, that his stated desire to reserve the art for the working people, like his decision to have control of the Barnes board pass to the Lincoln University trustees upon de Mazia's death, is as much motivated by his desire to poke his fingers in the eyes of the Proper Philadelphians he lived among as it is any altruistic sentiment.

Even in the 1920s, when he built the gallery on the grounds of his estate in Lower Merion, Philadelphia's working people really didn't have access to the site of his art collection. It is not that far from Merion station on the Main Line, true, but working folks rode the trolleys then, and the trolleys didn't pass quite as close to the site. So if your argument is that the Lower Merion site works against Barnes' stated desire to expose working people to his collection and theories, then your argument is as applicable when Barnes built his gallery as it is now.

Now to the flip side of this: Given that Barnes harbored such deep resentment of the way the local elite treated him, he would probably not be happy at all with the way the Barnes relocation has come about, for it came about by way of an Establishment coup against the Lincoln-appointed Barnes trustees. But those trustees cannot be considered completely blameless, for they appointed the executive director who pretty much drained the Barnes' meager endowment with his lawsuit against those same Lower Merion neighbors who are now up in arms over the move.

Peel away one layer and another emerges.

__________________
Sandy Smith, Exile on Market Street, Philadelphia
“Basically I figure guns are like gays: They seem a lot more sinister and threatening until you get to know a few; and once you have one in the house, you can get downright defensive about them.” --Theresa Neilson Hayden

Yeah, there's great irony in Pew riding in like a white knight to save the Barnes. And given Barnes's anti-establishment feeling and his generally cantankerous personality, he most likely would have been in favor of Richard Glanton's heroic-but foolish legal attempt to stick a finger in the neighbors' eye. But we know now that that was a losing strategy. Maybe in a sense the Pew-led donors are saving the Barnes from itself, saving its mission and its collection from the worse angels of Barnes's nature.

http://www.philly.com/philly/news/pe...tion_ends.html

Fight to halt move of Barnes Foundation ends

By Derrick Nunnally
Inquirer Staff Writer
The court fight over moving the Barnes Foundation's $5 billion art collection from Lower Merion Township to Philadelphia has ended with a whimper in a Norristown courthouse office.

(There's more to it, but its long and somewhat tedious).


Well, I'm, happy the Friends have finally conceded after these years fighting an uphill battle. While I personally disagree with their position and found their motives to be hypocritical and selfish (discussed in this thread and elsewhere) I do give them credit for standing by their convictions and fighting to the bitter end. That being said, I'm happy this cultural treasure will finally see its home on the Parkway.

Has the architecture firm thats been commissioned to design the actual museum released any preliminary sketches yet or are their plans still locked away in the abyss?

__________________
“Man who run in front of car get tired.”

Okay, now that the unpleasantness has been taken care of, full speed ahead!! Build the damn thing already!

__________________
"What's up Pops!" - Lebron James to Bush 41.

Actually, Philly society dissed him before that; he showed his collection at PAFA in 1920 (IIRC). It was only after the newspapers went out of their way to ridicule him that he decided to build the museum in Merion, start the foundation, and strictly control access.

It's literally a two-block want from the suburban rail station to the museum, and Dr Barnes was extremely generous when it came to helping people out with transportation. During his lifetime, the greater proportion of people who went through the Barnes program were working class.

If people think that the Pew "saving" the Barnes is ironic, don't forget that the Annenberg Foundation is contributing a large amount, too. Back in the 60's it was Walter Anneberg (and the Inquirer, which he owned) which established public access to the Barnes through a series of lawsuits which cost the Foundation a fair amount.

Dr Barnes always wanted to be accepted and recognized for his foresight and brilliance in collecting. The bitterness he's famous for, which shaped his decisions from 1930 to his death in 1955, was a result of his early treatment in the city. Six months before he died, his plans were to leave the collection to U of P. They did something which annoyed him, so he changed his will (he'd done this many times in the past with other institutions and several times with Penn), so it's hard to judge what his intentions were.

Ultimately, I think having the fuss that's been made over him for the past couple of decades and having a museum built for his collection (using other people's money!) in a prime location on the Parkway would make him extremely happy, as it means he's finally been accepted by Philly on his own terms.

Nothing been seen as yet, but it better damned well be beautiful.

Based on previous buildings done by this architectural team I think this building will be very underwhelming. I am fully prepared to be disappointed by their rendering. Sorry to be so pessimistic...I definitely hope I am proven wrong.