Nov 16, 2020 _ news

We Love This House!

A living landmark tucked into downtown Cincinnati, Ohio, The Taft Museum of Art has announced a $10.7 million capital campaign to secure the future stability of the 200-year-old historic house that holds its collection. We’re working with the Taft Museum to ensure its house thrives for another 200 years.

The historic house will undergo an extensive rehabilitation to increase the performance of the exterior enclosure and replace the outdated HVAC/sprinkler systems to better protect its priceless art collection. Over the past 18 months, the GBBN team studied 36 different areas of the historic home’s exterior that revealed extensive water penetration. “Museums require tight control of air temperature and humidity levels,” explains Chris Magee, part of the GBBN design team working on the project. “Our unique strategy to rehabilitate the exterior enclosure dovetails with the replacement of the new HVAC system,“ he says. The exterior siding and windows will be removed entirely to stabilize the wood structure underneath, insulate the wall cavities, and reapply the wood siding with a new rainscreen. The museum will remain open during construction.

“One of the reasons I love this house is that it’s considered the Taft Museum’s most valuable piece of art,” says Chris. “When architecture can be viewed as art, it can be appreciated in a unique way. Our entire team wants the best solution for this historic house.”

Read more about the Taft Museum’s capital campaign in the Cincinnati Business Courier.

Read more about Chris Magee.