Mousellaneous
Mousellaneous
Progress at the Walt Disney Family Museum
Loyal readers will recall an earlier visit to San Francisco’s Presidio for a sneak preview of some of the exhibits planned to be displayed as part of the Walt Disney Family Museum. Recently, Leo Holzer and I were invited to take a hardhat tour of the building that will house the Museum, with Diane Disney Miller as our guide.
As you can see in the photo above, this is indeed a construction site. Even though Building 104 on the Main Parade Ground was chosen because it had already been modified by the Army with the removal of many of the smaller rooms (and hence historic fabric) a great deal of work is needed to change this former barracks building into the home of a world class museum. Compare it to the view below of the building before construction began.
Once completed, the structure won’t look much different from this side. But the back of the building? That’s a different story. The courtyard between the buildings seen here is undergoing dramatic changes.
When completed, it will be completely enclosed. You can see that the main floor has already been put in place.
And Museum guests will be treated to a fantastic view of the Golden Gate from this level. Call it the unexpected bonus along their way through the Museum.
From there guests will follow a circular ramp from the second floor down to the first floor with exhibits along the way. Diane showed us a sample of that ramp.
The ramp had been constructed and tested off site in another warehouse. Some minor modifications will be required, but it will be spectacular when installed.
All of this open space on the second floor will be filled with exhibits and interactive displays. This area will feature a look at the years before World War II including Pinocchio, Bambi and Fantasia.
The designers and architects of the project have gone to great lengths to make use of as much of the original building as they can including the aged bricks, wonderful timbers and classic iron columns.
And of course, the Museum will have a gift shop and cafe for guests to relax after their tours. Here is a view of where those will be on the first floor.
And the Museum will also have a fine 100 seat theater! The view below shows the space under construction. It’s located under the courtyard where the ramp will be.
So there you have it! A brief glimpse of the construction underway on the Walt Disney Family Museum. Be sure to check out their web site for more information on the project - in the Special Exhibits section of the site. There are a number of articles from various people associated with the project.
And we’ll be sharing more here in the months ahead including a look at the content of the Museum. We hope you’ll find it every bit as interesting as we did!
Wednesday, July 16, 2008