Seeking to forge a stronger connection with the growing metro community and to attract a new generation of visitors who demand fresh approaches to understanding the past, the Atlanta History Center is unveiling plans for a major 21st-century makeover Thursday.
The big items on its long list of projects are a more welcoming main entrance on West Paces Ferry Road and an of-the-moment permanent Atlanta history exhibition. But there is virtually no part of the leafy 33-acre Buckhead campus that will be untouched by enhancements.
The transformation will be paid for with $21.1 million raised in a just-completed capital campaign, easily the largest in the august institution’s 88-year history.
Other aspects will include the shifting of the front entrance so that it leads straight into the corridor housing most of the museum’s permanent exhibits. Their sheet-rocked entry walls will be opened up with floor-to-ceiling glass.
A bookstore-bistro, also glass-fronted, will be added beside the main entrance, accessible without admission. And the lobby/atrium will be expanded to 5,300 square feet to better accommodate center and private functions.
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