Kirkland Museum of Fine & Decorative Art’s two-year-old, $22 million building is scheduled to reopen in mid-August following extensive damage from burst pipes.
The Feb. 15 calamity, first reported by Westword, came right after the museum had reopened following a long COVID-19 closure.
Leaders at the time said the structure had sustained water damage, and that curators were still working to determine the extent of repairs needed for the 38,000-square foot collection of unique items from late Denver artist Vance Kirkland, as well as dozens of other mid-century gems.
Originally scheduled to end in March, and then July, the closure has been extended so museum leaders can continue hammering out details with their insurance provider, according to a statement provided to The Denver Post this week.
Museum officials also declined interviews, citing construction meetings and reinstallation work, and did not respond to questions about the dollar value of the damage — or the liability of the contractors that built the structure.
Associate Museum Director Renée Albiston did, however, provide new details about the incident:
- All three floors of the museum sustained water damage, which came from a burst water valve caused by February’s polar vortex that froze much of Denver
- Approximately 4,000 pieces in the collection and all display cases were “moved and stored swiftly,” thanks to quick work by museum staffers who noticed the burst pipes on surveillance cameras.
- The restoration is nearly complete, with repairs on all three levels to replace the wood floors in the galleries, carpeting throughout offices, drywall and the elevator control panel.
- Most of the damage is limited to the three floors, although a “conservation assessment” of the number of objects affected by water is still underway. “We won’t know the true extent of the art damage for quite some months yet,” according to Albiston. “We are working with a professional art conservation team on this.”
Despite not having a firm reopening date, the museum is “working quickly to assess a dollar value from the damage,” which affects only its own holdings. Unlike many other museums, all objects in Kirkland Museum are from the museum’s permanent collection, with no artifacts on loan from outside institutions.
Kirkland Museum was formerly located on Denver’s Capitol Hill, where its internationally renowned, namesake painter and visionary surrealist Vance Kirkland worked and taught until his death in 1981.
Museum leaders opened Kirkland’s architecturally distinct new building in the gallery-heavy Golden Triangle neighborhood in March 2018. With its terracotta bars and shimmering, yellow glass panels, the building stands out at the corner of West 12th Avenue and Bannock Street.
It features numerous pieces installed in shatter-proof, UV-protected glass displays that double as windows, thanks to Seattle-based building architect Jim Olson.
The museum will use the mid-August reopening to launch its second exhibition of 2021, “Truth, Beauty and Power: Christopher Dresser and The Aesthetic Movement.” The exhibition showcases works from the museum’s permanent collections, many never seen before, officials said.
