The Augusta Museum of History will soon begin an expansion of the property located on Reynolds Street to allow for an increase in the amount of space available for exhibits.
According to Executive Director Nancy Glaser, a $1 million dollar expansion will relocate the museum’s woodworking shop out of the main building and into a newly acquired historic warehouse building located on an adjacent plot to the east of the museum.
“We will be able to double the size of the Godfather of Soul exhibit and expand our Local Legends exhibit as well,” Glaser said.
The warehouse building, erected in 1927, was once home to the Whitney Cotton Factor, not Factory, and was a cotton storehouse. The current owners, the Strickland family, donated the 6,100 square foot building to the museum.
In its current state, the building is boarded up, but an inspection of the inside shows a remarkably well-preserved structure. Glaser says that the museum will incorporate the historic structure into the main building.
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While the conversion will modernize the building, Glaser says the museum does not plan to gut the building. An old walk-in safe will be used as a paint storage room. The building has lofts supported by huge beams, and Glaser says all of that will stay as extra storage space for the museum.
“We are going to maintain the characteristics of the building and convert it to modern use. We will be building a hallway that will link the two buildings, but the warehouse will have its own HVAC system,” Glaser said.
According to Glaser, having a separate air conditioning system will be of great help to the museum, as having a woodworking shop inside of a building that houses fragile relics can be a challenge.
The museum has a staff that makes the exhibit cases in house, so the air conditioning filters have to be constantly monitored due to the sawdust that gets into the air.
The funding to convert the building is coming from SPLOST 7 funds, and Glaser says that the renderings by the local architectural firm Johnson, Laschober and Associates are about 90% complete. However, she cannot speculate on the time to completion.
“Once we get the complete renderings, we still have to get the necessary approval from Planning and Development,” Glaser said.
After commission approval, the construction work will have to go out for bid through the Augusta Procurement Department.
Scott Hudson is the senior reporter for The Augusta Press. Reach him at scott@theaugustapress.com
