Museum set to welcome public to its new home.

The Skyscraper Museum--the first and only institution devoted to the past, present, and future of skyscrapers and skylines--will open its doors to the public on April 2, 2004.

After six years as a nomadic institution, mounting exhibitions and programs in a series of vacant banking halls in New York's historic financial district, the Museum will have its first permanent home. Located at the southern tip of Manhattan at 39 Battery Place, the Museum occupies a ground-floor space in the 38-story tower of the Ritz-Carlton Hotel and Condominiums.

Designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, LLP and built by Tishman Construction Corporation--both of whom donated their services--the 5,800-sq. ft. facility includes two galleries, one for a core exhibit and another for changing shows, as well as offices and a museum store. The striking interior by SOM partner Roger Duffy features a polished stainless steel floor and ceiling that reflect the full-height exhibit cases into endless verticals, creating an illusion of towering structures.

Marking the Museum's entrance will be a large-scale stainless steel "light box" by artist James Turrell. The collaboration of Duffy and Turrell will be the artist's first public artwork in New York City and it will be visible from the street 24 hours a day. The entrance has been approved by the NYC Art Commission and will be built in Phase II of the Museum's construction as soon as final funds are in place.

"A permanent home in lower Manhattan was the dream from the start," explained architectural historian Carol Willis, the founder and director of the Museum. "Downtown is the birthplace of the skyscraper and a living archive of the evolution of the high-rise form with buildings that span more than a century. It is now the focus of worldwide attention as a place of both memory and renewal.

"Located just six blocks south of ground zero, with views of both New York harbor and the downtown skyline, we occupy an important and poignant place to remember the past and consider the future of downtown New York." At the nexus of major tourism and cultural activity, the Museum expects to attract around 125,000 visitors annually.

The opening exhibit "Building a Collection" will display a range of items from treasures to trivia. Photographs, drawings, models, films, city maps and land books, blueprints, advertisements, and souvenirs are brought together to illustrate the Museum's mission to "collect, preserve and interpret" the evolving history of skyscrapers.

Among the recently donated treasures is a photo album of more than 500 photographs of the construction of the Empire State Building compiled in 1931 by the original contractors Starrett Brothers & Eken. Hundreds of historic postcards of New York towers will survey lost and extant landmarks that represent the long-standing popular identification of skyscrapers as the symbol of New York.

The inaugural exhibit will be followed in October 2004 by "Wright's Towers," the first comprehensive examination of the high-rise designs of Frank Lloyd Wright. The exhibition will be guest-curated by Hilary Ballon, Chair of the Department of Art History and Archeology at Columbia University.

In addition to exhibitions at the new permanent space, The Skyscraper Museum continues to serve its audience as it has for the last six years through publications and talks, collaborative programs such as the "Viewing Wall" at ground zero, and its award-winning website www.skyscraper.org. The website provides information and innovative programs including "Webwalk", featuring 3D virtual tours of downtown New York.