A recent public hearing demonstrates support for re-opening the Gardner Museum of Architecture and Design It's not clear if the community will come through with the necessary funding.
The museum's board dissolved the non-profit corporation in March. It turned the building and assets over to the Historical Society of Quincy and Adams County at that time.
The society's Executive Director Reg Ankrom says it's a valuable resource. He also says the society cannot maintain it for very long.
He says, “There is an end of the road to all of this. Our board has budgeted for the process. That budget's for about six months. And when the money runs out our board is unable to sustain it on its own.”
Ankrom says the money will run out at the end of October. He says it would cost about $35,000 a year to operate the museum. That does not include the cost of staffing it.
He says the best outcome would be to find funding to support the downtown museum's operation. A second option is to find business partners to operate on part of the first floor while retaining the upper floors for exhibits. The third option is an outright sale of the building and assets.
He says, “Those things which don't fit our mission or aren't necessarily related to Quincy and Adams County, if we find no other way to handle the situation, they would be sold.”
Ankrom says the building, which was built in 1888, is structurally sound