The
story of the new deYoung Museum actually begins with the demise of the OLD de
Young Museum. Shortly after the Loma Prieta earthquake of 1992, the Museum received
seismic retrofitting in order to maintain a minimum level of structural integrity.
However, this retrofitting was seen by COFAM as a temporary solution. Consequently,
the Museum operated for almost ten years with a collection which was
uninsured,
due to the great risk the unstable building posed. In the interim, COFAM began
to explore methods of financing a NEW deYoung Museum, and accordingly researched
alternate locations for its placement. These explorations led to the introduction
of a number of bond measures to support a remodel of the existing Museum, all
of which failed due to great political dispute. Further fuel was added to the
fire when an advisory committee recommended relocating the Museum to an Embarcadero
location which would encourage greater tourist traffic. After much public debate,
COFAM decided to rebuild the Museum in its original Golden Gate Park location
and eventually attracted enough private funding to begin the design process.
Thus begins our story of the design and construction of the new de Young Museum
....
Introduction
