{"id":251022,"date":"2026-01-22T03:20:13","date_gmt":"2026-01-22T03:20:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/251022\/"},"modified":"2026-01-22T03:20:13","modified_gmt":"2026-01-22T03:20:13","slug":"baird-architects-completes-woodmere-art-museum-overhaul-inside-19th-century-gothic-revival-mansion-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/251022\/","title":{"rendered":"Baird Architects completes Woodmere Art Museum overhaul inside 19th-century Gothic Revival mansion | News"},"content":{"rendered":"


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Image credit: Michael Moran<\/p>\n

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Baird Architects<\/a> has completed a major expansion of the Woodmere Art Museum in Philadelphia<\/a>. The most significant transformation of the institution since its founding in 1910, the project more than doubles the museum\u2019s exhibition space and introduces new facilities for education, events, and outdoor programming.<\/p>\n

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Image credit: Michael Moran<\/a>Image credit: Michael Moran<\/p>\n

Central to the expansion is the adaptation<\/a> of a 19th-century Gothic Revival<\/a> mansion into the 17,000-square-foot Frances M. Maguire Hall for Art and Education. The renovated building adds 14 galleries accommodating more than 500 works of art, along with a dedicated children\u2019s art studio, flexible spaces for small gatherings, and four acres of preserved landscape.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Krieger Architects served as associate architect for the scheme.<\/p>\n

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Image credit: Michael Moran<\/a>Image credit: Michael Moran<\/p>\n

Originally constructed in 1852 as a country retreat, the mansion has undergone multiple changes over its lifetime, including Italianate additions and decades of use by the Sisters of St. Joseph. Following Woodmere\u2019s acquisition of the property in 2021, renovation<\/a> work began in spring 2023.<\/p>\n

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Image credit: Michael Moran<\/a>Image credit: Michael Moran<\/p>\n

The design retains historic features while introducing contemporary gallery environments with increased daylight and accessibility. New visitor amenities include a cantilevered precast-concrete terrace overlooking the Wissahickon Valley and a glass elevator that brings natural light into the building\u2019s interior.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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Image credit: Michael Moran<\/a>Image credit: Michael Moran<\/p>\n

The surrounding landscape was redesigned by Andropogon Associates<\/a> to strengthen connections between the museum and its natural setting. The expansion also enables growth of Woodmere\u2019s sculpture garden, incorporating native plantings, pollinator habitats, and mature trees, extending the museum\u2019s exhibition program into the surrounding landscape.<\/p>\n

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Image credit: Michael Moran<\/a>Image credit: Michael Moran<\/p>\n

Several interior spaces highlight the building\u2019s layered history, including restored wood-paneled rooms and a former basement vault repurposed as a gallery for contemporary jewelry and decorative arts. A dedicated room houses \u201cThe Building of the House of Wisdom,\u201d an 18-panel mural cycle by Violet Oakley, originally created for a residence designed by Frank Miles Day.<\/p>\n

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Image credit: Michael Moran<\/a>Image credit: Michael Moran<\/p>\n

\u201cWitnessing the loss of many historic structures in Chestnut Hill in my youth, it was particularly meaningful to transform Maguire Hall into a contemporary exhibition space filled with natural light,\u201d said Matthew Baird, principal and founder of Baird Architects. \u201cWith this expansion, we\u2019ve reimagined this historic stone mansion as a world-class venue for viewing art.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\t\tSimilar articles on Archinect that may interest you…<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\t\t\t <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" anchor Image credit: Michael Moran Baird Architects has completed…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":251023,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[437,434,435,436,438,146,85,46],"class_list":["post-251022","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arts-and-design","tag-arts","tag-arts-and-design","tag-artsanddesign","tag-artsdesign","tag-design","tag-entertainment","tag-il","tag-israel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/251022","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=251022"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/251022\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/251023"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=251022"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=251022"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=251022"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}