After more than a year in storage, the largest collection of British Art outside of England reopens to the public on Wednesday. Architects for the Yale Center for British Art have restored the galleries inside the concrete, steel and white oak walls of the modern building designed by American architect Louis Kahn.
Amy Meyers, the Center’s director, says the Center has lovingly maintained the building for almost 40 years “but the degeneration of its natural materials and the obsolescence of its mechanical systems have caused us to undertake a phased program of conservation based on a recently published conservation plan, a unique document in this country.”
Meyers says conservation plans are usually used for really old buildings in places like the United Kingdom. She says this is the first modern building to have a conservation plan in the U.S.
Now the Center has room to display modern art from the Rhoda Pritzker collection, and other works that have never been on display.
The galleries will be open until 8 pm this week to celebrate.