| SBM Builds Front Door |
AT LONG LAST, A WAY IN
They finally did it! After years of fits and starts, Portsmouth’s biggest history museum is building a visitor’s center. We were there for the ground breaking, and we’re going to stick around for a while and get to know our Puddledock neighbor better. Why not join us?
READ: Official SBM Press Release
The time has finally come. For the next year this web site is going to get to know Strawbery Banke Museum from the inside out. We’ve been peeking over the fence for at least three decades now. We’ve been attending special events and sometimes cutting through the grounds on our way across town. We’ve been sending tourists over and giving directions to people on the street. But we’ve never really honestly gotten to know the place.
Can’t say exactly why. We offer no excuses. Maybe it was the fence. Maybe it was the fee. Maybe it seemed that taking on the whole history of Strawbery Banke at once was a bit like eating a bowling ball.
But all that is changing. This week the museum broke ground on their new visitor center. It is a surprising looking building, not what we expected, but distinctly appropriate. It looks like an old maritime warehouse, simple and utilitarian. It looks like a building that has a purpose.
One purpose is to make the place more welcoming. It is the building where new people will start their journey into this unique campus of old houses, gardens and exhibits. It is the place that will make Strawbery Banke make sense.
This is not, by the way, the visitor center that we are advocating for Portsmouth. That is still desperately needed. That center will orient visitors to the whole of Portsmouth and Seacoast history, to all the other historic sites and independent museums that make this seaport so fascinating. The building at Strawbery Banke is a doorway into just one portion of that extraordinary story. It is a good start.
If you’re feeling déjà vu, this whole thing did happen a few years ago. The original Tyco-funded visitor center turned out to be located on top of an archeologically significant spot of land at the other end of the campus.
Nobody wants to remember that fiasco. But whatever does not kill us, makes us strong.
Now as it approaches its 50th year, Strawbery banke seems stronger than ever. It was, after all, an organization born amid the crisis of urban renewal. It has taken a good slow time to mature, but that can be said for many of us Baby-Boomers. And Portsmouth too, has grown wiser and kinder over the years.
So in the spirit of the times, we are going to step through those historic doors. Rather than swallow the whole bowling ball, we will consume the place in bite-sized bits. You may, if you wish, come along and enjoy the meal. – JDR
SEE: Our Puddledock 400 year Timeline
Strawbery Banke officials, board members, and supporters officially broke ground
today for the Museum's new Visitors Center. Participants included members of the
Strawbery Banke staff and board of trustees, donors to the project, representatives
of state and local government, and representatives of design and project construction
team. The long-anticipated facility will house the museum's ticketing area, the new
museum store, and a multimedia orientation area. Designed by JSA Architects, Interiors,
Planners of Portsmouth, NH, the 3,500 sq. ft. structure recalls the style of the
many mercantile buildings that formerly populated the Puddle Dock neighborhood.
Bruce Dicker, FAIA, principal-in-charge of the project, explains the project took
design cues from existing and archival sources: "The building takes its inspiration
from the wharf buildings that existed in a real working area, where people built
boats, fixed sails, and hewed masts." The design vocabulary features simple lines,
exposed interior structures, and common, local materials. "These elements," Dicker
explains, "create a nice contrast to the more residential surrounding structures."
A reinforced floating slab foundation will be used to minimize disruption to the
Museum site and the underlying ground. The shingled exterior and 6 over 6 window
treatments planned for the center are also typical of the warehouse buildings
of the historic Puddle Dock.
According to Rodney Rowland, Strawbery Banke's vice president for special projects,
there were two main challenges in orienting visitors to the site. The first was
to convey to people that Strawbery Banke - and more specifically, the "Puddle
Dock" median green around which the buildings of Strawbery Banke are situated
- was once a busy waterfront hamlet. "What visitors see today at Puddle Dock is actually landfill - and the re-creation
of some of the wharf structures that bordered the original tidal inlet," explains
Rowland. The tidal inlet was completely filled in by 1907, and the landscape of
the neighborhood changed immensely over the next century. In order to understand
the uniqueness of the site, visitors need to conceptualize its original topography.
"Without understanding that Strawbery Banke was part of a flourishing maritime
economy, you can't really understand the site," explains Rowland. "The location
of the new Visitors Center on the Hancock Street side of the campus makes it much
easier for the visitor to envisage Puddle Dock as a busy wharf area." The second challenge for the design team was to communicate the fact that Strawbery
Banke represents four centuries of New England life - not a snapshot of Colonial
history. Unlike Colonial Williamsburg, which focuses on the 18th century, Strawbery
Banke shows change over a 350-year period of time. The vantage point of the new
Visitors Center will allow Museum interpreters to illustrate change over time
in a panoramic way. The spacious interiors will also feature wall panels that
illustrate the neighborhood's evolution over time. Pine Brook Corporation of Kittery, Maine, has been contracted for the construction
of the facility, which is slated for completion in mid-August. The end of construction
will give a green light to landscaping plans for the site. To that end John Forti,
the Museum's curator of historic landscapes, has engaged a working group through
the Harvard Design Program to create teaching landscapes and strong points of
entry to the new orientation building. "The new landscapes are still in the design
phase and await funding," says Forti, "but they should help all visitors better
read the historic streetscapes as well as the concept of change over time in the
landscape." For president Larry Yerdon, the new facility is a keystone in his mission to
improve the visitor experience. "The Visitors Center will be great step forward
in serving the thousands of visitors to Strawbery Banke each year," says Yerdon.
"The new building will allow us to orient visitors in a much more comprehensive
and standardized way. Within the first ten minutes of their visit, our guests
will get a very good overview of the history of the Museum and how to use its
resources. We're delighted to be able to add that new dimension to our visitor
experience." About Strawbery Banke: Connect with the Past! Step into 400 years of living in our neighborhood. Strawbery
Banke provides the opportunity to see how people lived for four centuries of New
England history. Through restored furnished houses, exhibits, historic landscapes
and gardens, and costumed role players, Strawbery Banke interprets the living
history of generations who settled in Portsmouth, NH from the late 17th century
to the mid-20th century. Strawbery Banke Museum in Portsmouth, NH is open May 1 - October 31, Monday through
Saturday 10 - 5 and Sunday 12 - 5; and November 1 - April 30, Thursday through
Saturday 10 - 2 and Sunday 12 - 2 for guided 90 minute walking tours on the hour.
Closed January. Call 603-433-1100 for more information or visit the official web site..
Strawbery Banke Museum Breaks Ground
for New Visitors Center
Portsmouth, NH - April 26, 2005 -
