Dimitrie Berea Art Gallery
Excerpt from Building A College: An Architectural History of Berea College[1]
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Dimitrie Berea Art Gallery, 2002-03
Architect: Mike Moose of Glaserworks, Cincinnati, OH
Contractors: Frank Messer and Sons Construction, Lexington, KY
Cost: $1.5 Million
Dedication: February 21, 2003
In 1998, Princess Alice Gurielli Berea Terres read an article in the New York Times discussing Berea College. Her former husband, Romanian artist- painter Dimitrie Berea, at his death had left her a large collection of his drawings, prints and paintings. Though courted by many museums, colleges and private collectors, Princess Alice ultimately felt Berea College should have this unique collection. President Larry Shinn, working with the Development Office found the funds to construct this linking building between the Rogers and Traylor Art Buildings. Alice Terres and College Trustees James and Hanna Bardett and John and Donna Hall each provided a third of the funds for the building'S construction Construction began in early spring 2002 and was completed just hours before the building's opening dedication. Moose's new building incorporated the former Ulmann Galleries in Upper and Lower Traylor, but closed the west and south glass walls providing more running feet of carpeted gallery wall space and at the same time controlling light and air. A new larger Collection's Storage space, an elevator, linking hallways on both floors, a 1,200 square feet of designated gallery for the Dimitrie Berea Collection, a smaller room to house Romanian artifacts and a unisex restroom were added in this new construction. The former Hisaka glass link now became a larger enclosed and two-floored hallway connector. Because of so many high quality art works, a new designated gallery space for the College's masterpieces was carved out of the Lower Traylor Gallery and became part of the building's renovation.
A new office space was built on fourth floor Traylor, the original Collection's Storage became a 3-D wood shop with power tools, the Art Library books were absorbed by the Hutchins Library and that space was subdivided into three spaces: a Computer Graphics Studio, a multimedia classroom and a Student Gallery dedicated to Dorothy Tredennick, former Morris Bellmap Professor of Art and Chair of the Department. Security and air conditioning was improved for the gallery spaces and a new formal entrance opened onto the original "University Row" and created a terminus on the JJR Masterplan. At the dedication of the gallery, Jennie Koch, a 2003 graduating senior stated: "these quiet spacious rooms are really ours and have the quality that one finds and seeks in museums; they make the art and the act of looking at it special, like a meditation". Princess Alice, a cousin and friends joined the Trustees for the weekend grand opening where six different exhibitions filled the newly created spaces.
Tragically, a masonry worker died during construction. With all the construction accomplished on the Berea College campus during
a period of a hundred and fifty years, the author has found no other record of a death.
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[1] Citation: Boyce, Robert Piper. Building A College: An Architectural History of Berea College. Self-published. Berea, Ky: Berea College Printing Services, 2006, p134-135.
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Works Cited
Boyce, Robert Piper. Building A College: An Architectural History of Berea College. Self-published. Berea, Ky: Berea College Printing Services, 2006, p134-135.
