Munson Art Museum

Steele Landscape Architecture was hired by Munson to rehabilitate the museum frontage into a publicly accessible park and cultural event space that melds historic landscape preservation and vibrant placemaking. The rehabilitation of the 42,000 square foot frontage along Utica’s Genesee Street ties architecturally and historically significant buildings of the Munson campus, including the 1852 Fountain Elms and the 1960 Museum of Art designed by architect Philip Johnson.

The project vision was to create a historically sensitive green space that incorporates contemporary thinking about public space design, universal accessibility, and native plant ecology. Historic records were used to develop a plan that rehabilitates the Museum of Art to its original design intent, publicly displaying the building as Philip Johnson intended while including a more resilient native landscape. A key part of the project included the development of a new accessible entrance to the museum, redesigning a quaint, but inaccessible sunken courtyard into a programmable event space and native plant showcase that allows universal accessibility from Genesee Street. The design team worked through unique constraints, including a subterranean art storage facility that extends below the museum’s front lawn, effectively creating an intensive green roof for much of the park.  

The project is a catalyst for continued redevelopment of Utica’s Genesee Street downtown corridor and is partially funded by Utica’s Downtown Revitalization Initiative (NYS Department of State) grant along with additional support from private foundations and donors.  The project is under construction and will be completed by 2025.