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Date: March 6, 2009 9:15:20 AM EST

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Subject: SJC says museum expansion won't violate will (Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum)

Good Morning all,
Lisa

----- Forwarded by Lisa White/CA01/01/USCOURTS on 03/06/2009 09:13 AM -----

Dear Judges,  Here's the link to the museum:  http://www.gardnermuseum.org/

Lisa White - US Courts Library
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SJC says museum expansion won't violate will By Geoff Edgers, Globe Staff  |  March 6, 2009 The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court has ruled that the expansion plans of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum do not violate restrictions created by the museum's founder in her will. The decision gives the museum permission to remove a carriage house on its Fenway site; create a new entrance, a new building for offices, a gift shop, a cafe, and visitor center, and build a glass walkway between the buildings. The decision follows reviews by the Boston Redevelopment Authority, the Boston Landmarks Commission, and the Massachusetts Historical Commission, all of which supported the Gardner. The high court's ruling did not please one community group, the Friends of Mission Hill, which has opposed the plans to knock down the carriage house. Alison Pultinas, a member of the group, said she is now concerned that the economy will stall the project after the carriage house gets knocked down. "We are just apprehensive that we might end up with a hole in the ground," Pultinas said. It's been more than four years since director Anne Hawley announced that the museum, which opened in 1903, would undergo its first major expansion. The Gardner has hired Italian architect Renzo Piano to create a multistory building on the museum's Fenway site that would be connected to the ornate building that Gardner, a Boston socialite, designed, modeling it after a Venetian palace. At the time, Hawley estimated the project would cost at least $60 million and would be finished by 2010. Since then, officials of the museum have backed off providing details on the potential cost and timeline. "We do not intend to break ground or move forward with the project until we are confident we've met our fund-raising goals," said museum spokeswoman Katherine Armstrong.