Yale University Art Gallery in New Haven, Connecticut celebrated the grand opening of the renovated and expanded museum, on December 12, 2012.
Yale University Art Gallery, Kahn Building, Old Yale Art Gallery, and Street Hall), South Exterior Elevation. ©Ennead Architects
The $135 million* project has increased the space occupied by the museum from one- and-a-half buildings—the 1953 modernist structure designed by Louis Kahn and approximately half of the 1928 Old Yale Art Gallery, designed by Egerton Swartwout—to three, encompassing the Kahn building, the entire Old Yale Art Gallery, and the contiguous 1866 Street Hall, designed by Peter Bonnett Wight (and home to the Gallery from 1867 to 1928). The project—designed and led by Duncan Hazard, Management Partner, and Richard Olcott, Design Partner, in the New York City- based Ennead Architects (formerly Polshek Partnership)—has united the three buildings into a cohesive whole while maintaining the distinctive architectural identity of each.
The expanded and renovated Gallery contains 69,975 square feet of exhibition space, compared to 40,266 square feet prior to the expansion, and occupies the length of one-and-a-half city blocks. The Gallery’s eleven curatorial departments were all involved in planning for the project and in the reinstallation. Designated collection galleries include those devoted to African, Asian, Indo- Pacific, and modern art, located in the Louis Kahn building; art of the ancient Americas, ancient art, European art, coins and medals, photography, and contemporary art, located in the Old Yale Art Gallery; and American paintings and sculpture and American decorative arts, located in Street Hall. Works on paper are integrated into a number of the galleries, and the reinstalled museum also features a number of study galleries, including one on the arts of Islam; the new Nolen Center for Art and Education; and three special-exhibition galleries.
The Gallery is located at 1111 Chapel Street, in New Haven, Connecticut. Hours are Tuesday through Friday, 10 am to 5 pm (Thursday until 8 pm, September through June); Saturday and Sunday, 11 am to 5 pm; closed Mondays and major holidays. It is open to the public, and admission is free. For additional information, the public may call 203.432.0600, or go to www.artgallery.yale.edu
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