ROGERS -- Conceptual design is underway for the renovation of the Hailey Ford building, a structure now part of the Rogers Historical Museum campus.
The building will house all museum gallery spaces, doubling its gallery area from the current location, and include a research library, special use gallery, exhibit workshop and storage space.
Architect Roberto de Leon of de Leon & Primmer Workshop in Louisville, Ky., was hired for the project and said gathering community input was the initial phase.
"Our intention has been to make it a collaborative process," de Leon said. "Our interest is in understanding what a museum campus means in the historic heart of Rogers. Understanding the project and community will drive final design strategy."
De Leon & Primmer Workshop conducted a design meetingto discuss the history of the building and gather priorities from the public before moving on to redesign, conceptual and layout phases of the project.
Final documents will be presented in 2017 and construction and renovation will take place over the course of 2017 and 2018. The Hailey building will be open to museum visitors by the end of 2018.
For now, de Leon's team will gather data on the building's history and current state and craft a way for the building to fit seamlessly into a museum campus plan through consistent signage, materials, colors and other aesthetics. Renovation efforts will focus on restoring the building's Streamline Moderne facade, an art deco look with a huge glass showroom, rounded corners and marquee.
Informal plans for expanding the museum's gallery and programming space began in 2006 and experienced a few delays, said John Burroughs, director of the museum. Among them were the economic downturn in 2007, challenges in fundraising and an initial plan for the construction of an entirely new building for $11 million.
The need for more space persisted and when the Hailey building came up for sale, the Rogers Historical Museum made a plan to purchase and renovate it for less than half the cost of the original plan for a new building.
"It was the perfect solution to our expansion," Burroughs said. "Usually it's not advisable to change the scope of your project in the middle of fundraising, but people were glad. They have a strong sentimental attachment to the building, which has a unique identity."
The Hailey building was constructed in 1947 and served as a Ford dealership for more than 20 years. Burroughs said many Rogers residents still remember buying cars there. It also served as a newspaper office for the Rogers Morning News until a few years ago.
De Leon said renovation could include details of mirror-polished stainless steel, the use of high-gloss lacquer paint, fluted glass, the restoration of a series of vintage glass block windows and exterior Vitrolite tile in a nod to the building's history as a car dealership.
"The emphasis on sustainability is really about designing a non-wasteful (society)," de Leon said. "The city of Rogers is doing that here, recognizing what is already there and investing in it."
The museum had raised $500,000 to put toward its renovations by July 2015 and has since enjoyed further assistance.
The Rogers Historical Museum was among the first round of projects supported by the Walton Family Foundation's Northwest Arkansas Design Excellence Program in its first year, which drew 36 architecture firms to a pool for use in "elevating the architectural quality of future public buildings," according to a news release.
The foundation announced Friday a second application cycle for the design program that will attract additional architecture and landscape architecture firms to the pool of design professionals.
"Rogers Historical Museum is a wonderful example of a partnership between the city of Rogers, the museum, the Walton Family Foundation and exemplifies what we were hoping to do with program, which is to add value to existing downtowns," said Karen Minkel, director of the Walton Family Foundation Home Region Program. "Adaptive reuse projects are especially important in downtown footprints that have a lot of existing infrastructure in place. We've brought in a firm nationally recognized for such work and it will be available for people in Northwest Arkansas to experience."
A total of $1 million has been raised for the Hailey building project, which Burroughs said is on target with museum goals.
So far, the Rogers Historical Museum has received a 3-to-1 challenge grant from the National Endowment for Humanities, a $147,000 grant from the Institute for Museum and Library Services and two grants from the Walton Family Foundation, one of which was $408,000 for architectural services and the other $956,000 for construction. The Buck Foundation, former Rep. Les Carnine and Sen. Cecil Bledsoe also made donations.
Burroughs expects the museum will raise another $1 million for the project by July 2017.
Metro on 08/01/2016