The Brandywine Conservancy & Museum of Art has submitted a sketch plan for the museum’s planned expansion. Members of the Chadds Ford Township Planning Commission had their first look at the sketch plan during its June 3 meeting.
As it was a sketch plan, there was no vote taken. More will come later when a fully engineered plan is presented and goes through the bureaucratic process required by subdivision and land development.
As reported last month, the museum wants to initiate a $100 million expansion. Upgrades are planned for the current museum, but the sketch plan also calls for a new building on Murphy Road.
Conservancy Executive Director Virginia Logan said during the Planning Commission meeting that the idea for some expansion began in 2019 following what she called, “enormous success.”
“Our education and public programs had more than quadrupled in the decade since I had started, and our collection had grown, and we needed a lot more space.”
But the COVID pandemic followed by the flooding from Hurricane Ida delayed actions, though a master planning team helped the conservancy determine what was needed, she said.
As presented on Wednesday, the planned design calls for the existing museum to remain at what’s referred to as the River Campus, and the new planned building on Murphy Road called the Hillside Campus.
Logan noted that Murphy Road is also where the Andy Wyeth studio is located, as well as the N.C. Wyeth home and studio.
The new building is planned to be a 40,000-square-foot structure with five galleries that add about 14,000 square feet of gallery space, which would bring the total gallery space from both buildings to almost 20,000.
Logan added that, “In addition to adding approximately a 40,000 square foot building, we also have designated 325 acres of the nearly 400 acres that we own in and around Chadds Ford Township, some of that in Pennsbury and Birmingham townships…looking at that as a future public preserve.”
She also said they would add to a network of trails, for a total of 10 miles of trails in the township.
But, in short, Logan said, “We need to add a second building that’s approximately a half mile from the original building. When we are done, it will give us 20,000 square feet of gallery space, which is what our master plan recommended between the two buildings. In addition to that, we will convert more spaces in the original building to serve public programming.”
Again, being that this was merely a sketch plan, there are several bureaucratic hoops to negotiate.
Michael Bush, a civil engineer from Meliora Design, said the sketch plan was submitted to the township on May 8 and that he had received comments on the submission from township engineer Mike Schneider. Bush said he saw no issues about complying with those comments.
Bush said several variances and relief will be needed, including cutting and filling on steep and very steep slopes, and some riparian buffer release. There is also a condition use request for remote or shared parking (with the current building) that will be served by shuttle service.
The conservancy hopes to start work next spring, then finish and have an opening in the fall of 2029.
About Rich Schwartzman
Rich Schwartzman has been reporting on events in the greater Chadds Ford area since September 2001 when he became the founding editor of The Chadds Ford Post. In April 2009 he became managing editor of ChaddsFordLive. He is also an award-winning photographer.
