Anacostia Community Museum Closes for Renovation

Summary

• The Anacostia Community Museum will shut down on March 15, 2019 for seven months of renovations. The $3.5 million renovation project will focus on improving the museum's accessibility and upgrading its parking lot and outdoor space. Exterior updates will include the addition of a "multi-functional plaza" and a community garden. The building will also undergo interior lighting and HVAC updates while it's closed to the public. The construction will require the closure of sidewalks and driveways, making building access difficult.
• The museum's main exhibition, "A Right to the City," explores gentrification in six D.C. neighborhoods: Adams Morgan, Anacostia, Brookland, Chinatown, Shaw, and Southwest. During the closure, the exhibition will be broken up into six "satellite versions" and put on view in corresponding neighborhoods. Five of the six mini-exhibits will open March 15 at D.C. Public Library branches in Mt. Pleasant, Anacostia, Woodridge, Shaw, and Southwest. The museum hasn't confirmed plans for the location of the Chinatown exhibit yet. The full exhibition will go back on display when the museum reopens.

Subject

• Anacostia Community Museum
• District of Columbia Public Library
• A Right to the City (Exhibition) (Apr 21, 2018 - Apr 20, 2020: Anacostia Community Museum)

Category

Chronology of Smithsonian History

Notes

Smithsonian Institution NewsDesk, February 26, 2019

Contact information

Institutional History Division, Smithsonian Institution Archives, 600 Maryland Avenue, SW, Washington, D.C. 20024-2520, SIHistory@si.edu

Date

March 15, 2019

Topic

• Closings
• Architecture
• Barrier-free design
• Libraries
• Renovations
• Buildings
• African Americans
• Accessibility

Place

Washington (D.C.)

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