18 Oct Gardner Museum Snaps Up Neighboring Apartment Building
Source Credit: Content and images from Artnet News. Read the original article - https://news.artnet.com/art-world/boston-gardner-museum-buys-apartment-building-2555811
Museums have found all kinds of new revenue streams in recent years, some of them controversial, from digital billboards for rent on the grounds of the Pérez Art Museum Miami to placing guarantees on artworks at auction, as the Toledo Museum of Art has been doing. But one of the world’s most renowned museums is opening up a very novel way to earn income: becoming landlord of a residential property.
Boston’s Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum has purchased a five-story, 62-unit brick apartment building next door, for a cool $22.8 million. The rare purchase is a defensive move against any unwelcome changes at the neighboring property, at 14 Palace Road and 11 Tetlow Street, which abuts the museum’s new wing.
Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston. Photo: © Nic Lehoux.
“Last winter, the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum was presented with a possible opportunity to purchase a historical residential property that sits adjacent to the museum’s property line,” said a press representative in a statement. “Over the decades, the museum has enjoyed a strong relationship with the owners of this property and we were grateful for the chance to connect with the family about options for purchase.”
This was not so much an aggressive move into real estate investment, said the museum, but rather a defensive one. Nothing will change at the property other than the owner, which is just as the museum would want it: no major renovations, much less demolition of the building, which “could put at risk our collection and historic property,” or any major changes to the use of the building that would detract from visitors’ experience.
Exterior view of Hostetter Gallery of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston. Courtesy the museum.
And no, curators and registrars won’t be called on to take care of the building; the Gardner has brought in a property management firm to help with all that.
“We are grateful to all parties involved in the building’s sale,” says the statement. “And, we believe this was the best decision for the neighborhood as it will have zero impact on the community, our neighbors and visitors to our historic museum.”
The sellers were the Gilbert family, the clan behind an insurance company founded in 1951. According to the Boston Business Journal, the Gilberts also sold six other properties in the Fenway and Longwood neighborhoods to Cambridge-based Forest Properties.
Source Credit: Content and images from Artnet News. Read the original article - https://news.artnet.com/art-world/boston-gardner-museum-buys-apartment-building-2555811