Press Release - October 2003 - Museum Barn Plans
Press release . . . The Board of Directors of Allison-Antrim Museum, Inc., 365 South Ridge Avenue, Greencastle, Pa. announces the beginning of plans for the construction of a facility which will house climate-controlled storage, curatorial and conservation areas in addition to a meeting and workshop area, and more exhibit space.
When the long-range plan for AAMI was developed in 1999, one of the objectives was to provide the proper storage environment with climate control for the museum’s collections that would be built according to archival standards. The primary action plan to fulfill that goal was to build a separate curatorial storage facility.
Storage space in the museum house has been at a premium for some time, in order to allow as many of the rooms in the house to be used for exhibit areas as possible. Over the past number of months the directors have discussed and researched ideas which would make the primary action plan of building a separate storage facility a reality. The board hired Robert Smith, an architect from Kensington, Maryland, who developed a feasibility study for AAMI.
Some of the considerations included in the concept were maintaining the historic integrity of the property, the aesthetics of placing another building in proximity to the 1860 house, and the stated purpose of AAMI which is to preserve, exhibit, and interpret, items that will serve to illustrate the history of the Borough of Greencastle and Antrim Township.
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The history of the Irwin property includes a German-style bank barn, which was originally located where the northern end of the Greencastle-Antrim Middle School parking lot is. Taking that into consideration, the decision was made to accomplish the stated objective by preserving an existing barn. The process of numbering, cataloging, dismantling, moving, and reassembling a building is not a new concept. The National Park Service has done this many times. |
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Within the past couple weeks a barn meeting the requirement for the project was located in Franklin County. The 1860’s – 1870‘s German bank barn was purchased on October 4, 2003. It is located near Chambersburg along the Molly Pitcher Highway. This barn is not exactly like the original barn but is of its German style. |
| The first phase includes moving the barn to the museum’s property, reassembling it, and completing one climate-controlled storage area. At this point, the barn itself will be an exhibit, with agricultural displays, until the remaining three phases can be finished, depending on available funding. The bank side of the barn will face the west side of the museum house and will naturally allow wheel chair accessibility | |
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A model of the barn (right) in it's new location behind
the museum (left). |
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