The New West Wing

This transformational capital project brings a premier museum experience to all in Westchester and the metropolitan area and enhances the HRM’s ability to organize and host ambitious exhibitions while also providing additional spaces to display and interpret our permanent collection in new and exciting ways. Designed by Archimuse, the new wing expands the Museum’s total footprint by more than 12,000 square feet, including more than 3,000 square feet of exhibition galleries and exhilarating views of the Hudson River and Palisades.

Recognizing the Museum’s role as a key cultural anchor, education partner, and tourist destination, Westchester County ($6.2M), the City of Yonkers ($5.45M), and New York State, Empire State Development ($630,000) have joined forces in support of this capital improvement project with $12.28M in generous funding.

The HRM celebrated the opening of its new West Wing at a ribbon cutting ceremony on Thursday, June 15. Museum trustees, supporters, elected officials, and government representatives were in attendance. See photos of the ceremony here.

The West Wing project expands the Museum’s footprint from approximately 40,000 to 52,000 square feet while seamlessly integrating the enhancements with the existing museum campus. It is the culmination of a multi-phased Master Plan begun in 2002, which included the creation of a new education center; a 400-seat outdoor amphitheater; and capital improvements to the HRM’s entrance, lobby, galleries, and events space.

Tom D’Auria, Charmain, HRM Board of Trustees, stated, “The opening of the spectacular West Wing ushers in an exciting new era for the Hudson River Museum. This project is the result of years of strategic planning and serves as an excellent example of collaboration among our City, County, and New York State governments for the benefit of our entire community. On behalf of the Board of Trustees, I extend genuine thanks to the many supporters and partners who have made this new building a reality.”

Masha Turchinsky, HRM Director and CEO, stated, “The debut of this exciting capital project marks a pivotal milestone for the Hudson River Museum, our region, and our community. More than just additional space, the West Wing allows us to imagine anew how we present and share art and ideas, and bring the public together in exciting and thought-provoking ways. It is a great joy to welcome our visitors of all ages and herald a new era of exploring art, science, and history at the HRM.”

Westchester County Executive George Latimer stated, “The Hudson River Museum is a beacon in the County, a Westchester community anchor, and an important tourist destination. We are proud to have provided support to the Museum for this transformative capital project. It is a great investment in the future of Westchester County as an innovative cultural hub.”

Yonkers Mayor Mike Spano added, “With soaring galleries and spectacular panoramic views, these new spaces elevate the experience for artists and visitors alike. Building on their successful reaccreditation, the Hudson River Museum continues to raise the bar as a prestigious, nationally recognized institution, ready and able to inspire future generations in our City and beyond.”

Read the full press release here.

The Fund for HRM: Expanding the View

This project positions the Museum for an important fundraising campaign to ensure the long-term sustainability of the institution for generations to come.

The Fund for HRM provides essential support for our continued growth and leadership. As a leading cultural institution in the region, the Fund for HRM allows us to present world-class exhibitions and programs, complete our campus-wide capital goals, and continue to engage, inspire, and connect diverse communities through the power of the arts, sciences, and history.

Learn more here.

For more information about ​naming opportunities and related support in the Museum’s new West Wing, please contact Robert Panzera at rpanzera@hrm.org or (914) 963-4550 x218.

Connecting is key to Hudson River Museum’s new wing
Westchester & Fairfield County Business Journal (July 3, 2023) ↗

West Wing Opening Hailed as Milestone
Rivertowns Enterprise (June 23, 2023) ↗

Hudson River Museum Announces Grand Opening of Its New West Wing
Hyperallergic (June 14, 2023) ↗

Hudson River Museum’s New Wing: “A Place to Activate Ideas”
ArtsWestchester (June 13, 2023) ↗

For a full list of press, see below.

As part of the initial unveiling, the Museum debuts its new special exhibitions galleries, featuring Kengo Kito: Unity on Hudson, a monumental site-specific work that symbolizes humanity’s interconnectedness and our relationship with the Hudson River. The galleries are designed to display world-class art, accommodate the widest range of changing exhibitions, and allow for an exciting variety of installation, performance, multimedia, and large-scale art. A highlight of the new galleries is a cantilevered glass overlook, which provides a dramatic three-sided panoramic view of the Hudson River and the majestic Palisades.

The Wing also includes a new Community & Partnership Gallery, an inviting and experimental space for displays that features local, regional, and emerging artists, including work by artists-in-residence, community collaborations, and inventive partnerships with schools and universities. The inaugural exhibition, Sylvia Sleigh: Invitation on a Voyage, is a fourteen-panel panoramic painting that fittingly depicts a summer gathering of friends and art-world figures along the banks of the Hudson River and invites visitors to become part of the scene.

This phase also includes new climate-controlled art storage to ensure safe housing and display of artwork and conform with current professional standards for collections management and storage. The Hudson River Museum’s permanent collection contains more than 18,000 objects, including paintings, sculptures, works on paper, photographs, decorative arts, costumes, textiles, graphic design, historical objects, and ephemera. In addition, the Museum has an extensive collection of documentary photography and archival materials.

Construction is nearly complete on a tiered, 100-seat, state-of-the-art auditorium, responding to the natural cascading grade. The universally accessible auditorium will allow the Museum to present multimedia presentations and performances, film and video projection, dance, lectures, and panel discussions.

Scheduled to align with the completion of the auditorium, the adjacent outdoor patio will be transformed into the River Terrace to enhance programming and offer new opportunities for gathering. The Terrace has been upgraded with a new concrete floor and sleek glass parapet, connecting the Auditorium with the Hudson Room, the Museum’s special events space overlooking the River.

Now in the planning stages, a meadow-style perennial and shrub garden on the western slopes of the Hudson River Museum will include native plants and pollinators and offer sustainable opportunities for interdisciplinary education, connections to the collection, and partnerships.

The exterior of Glenview, the Museum’s revered beautiful and important 1877 riverfront home on the National Register of Historic Places and fashioned in an eclectic Late Victorian style, will receive much needed conservation to its stone and wood work, roof, and windows.

Designed by Charles W. Clinton, the noteworthy architect of New York’s Park Avenue Armory building, Glenview’s period rooms are furnished with some of the finest Victorian art and decorative arts in harmony with the high style architecture of the building. Glenview was recently featured in HBO’s The Gilded Age series, the popular Emmy Award–winning series from Julian Fellowes, creator of Downton Abbey.

Archimuse, led by Benjamin D. Kracauer, AIA, Principal, Architect and Reuben S. Jackson, RA, Principal, Architect, was founded in 1990 to directly address the goals and aspirations of the museum community: to conserve, to study, to interpret, and to exhibit. Archimuse provides fully integrated services and support necessary to fulfill these mandates. With its programmatic approach to planning, architecture and design, and coordinated and diversified methodology, Archimuse offers a uniquely balanced expertise to the planning and building process.

Other Archimuse clients and successful projects include the Brooklyn Museum of Art; Carnegie Museum of Art; Connecticut Historical Society; Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden; Metropolitan Museum of Art; Museum at Eldridge Street; Museum of Modern Art; Museum of Yachting, Newport, Rhode Island; New-York Historical Society; Oakes Museum of Natural History at Messiah College; Orange County Museum of Art: Phillips Museum of Art at Franklin & Marshall College; Urban Cultural Parks in Cohoes and Buffalo, NY; Whitney Museum of American Art.

Reuben S. Jackson, RA, Principal, Architect
Reuben S. Jackson is a graduate of the Columbia University Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation, where he studied architecture under Bernard Tschumi, Steven Holl, Michael Bell, William MacDonald and others. Jackson is presently directing the construction of Housing Works’ West Side Health Center at 326 West 48th Street, a gut renovation of an existing four-storey building plus Cellar, into the latest Housing Works primary care and behavioral health facility. He also directed the construction and recent completion of Housing Works’ East New York Community Health Center at 2640 Pitkin Avenue in Brooklyn.

Benjamin D. Kracauer, AIA, Principal, Architect
Upon receiving his degree in Architecture from Princeton University in 1979, Kracauer worked with Michael Graves Architect, Venturi, Rauch, and Scott Brown Architects, and Robert A. M. Stern Architects. Later, as project architect at Edward Larrabee Barnes/John M.Y. Lee Architects, he headed the addition and renovation of the Birmingham Museum of Art, including a sculpture garden (in collaboration with Elyn Zimmerman); the new Knoxville Museum of Art; and the Whitney Museum of American Art at Equitable Center. Also working with the Equitable, Kracauer has installed major outdoor urban art commissions that include sculptor Scott Burton’s “Urban Plazas: North and South”; sculptor Barry Flanagan’s “Leaping Hare” and “Young Elephant”; and Sol Lewitt’s “Wall Drawing.”