Ott’s broader decision approving the move, which flew in the face of Dr. Barnes from Merion to the Parkway, the Barnes would pledge to “replicate” the galleries in the original building, a fine Italianate design from 1925 by the architect Paul Cret. At the end of 2004, Ott took an idea put forth by the trustees of the Barnes and gave it the force of law: In exchange for permission to move the superb collection of the late Dr. The contradiction can be traced back to a single source: Montgomery County Judge Stanley Ott. Most impressive of all is the thoughtful sense of procession that carries visitors through the $150 million complex, first from the outside in and then from the museum’s airy common spaces almost inexorably toward the smaller-scaled galleries.Īt the same time, thanks to the peculiar restrictions that have governed the design of those galleries, it would hardly be an exaggeration to say that compared with the original Barnes, in the leafy Philadelphia suburb of Merion, Pennsylvania, the new building suffers from a distinct lack of soul. Taking cues from the designs of Louis Kahn, Carlo Scarpa, and Edward Larrabee Barnes-masters of the late-Modern museum-the new Barnes shows its architects (who are best known for their modestly sized, now closed American Folk Art Museum in New York City) working at a high level. The sober, handsome, and exquisitely detailed museum, designed by the increasingly busy New York City architects Tod Williams and Billie Tsien, offers a rare combination of material richness and spatial ingenuity. There is a good deal to admire about the architecture of the new Barnes Foundation, which opened May 19 on Philadelphia’s Benjamin Franklin Parkway, just down the road from the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

Burlap wall covering