The Denver Art Museum just raised a sixth of all the money it needs for a $150 million renovation of its North Building in a single donation.
The project is in the initial design phase with construction expected to start next year. The renovation is planned to be completed in 2021, according to a release from the Denver Art Museum.
Key elements of the project include moving educational programs to the center of the campus, expanding gallery spaces for growing collections, work on the visitor access to the seventh floor, exterior site improvements, a new welcome center and updating environmental and other key systems to current-generation technology.
Colorado businessman and chair of the Denver Art Museum's board of trustees, J. Landis Martin, and his wife, Sharon Martin, pledged Thursday's $25 million donation — the largest standalone financial gift in the museum’s history.
In return for kicking off the funding for the renovation project, the North Building will be renamed the J. Landis and Sharon Martin Building upon project completion, the release said.
In 1971, the museum opened the 24-sided, two-towered North Building near West 14th Avenue and Bannock Street. The seven-story structure is the only completed building in the United states designed by the Italian modernist Gio Ponti.
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