Glenbow Museum set to close for three years during major renovation

CALGARY (660 NEWS) — If you haven’t made a visit to the Glenbow Museum recently, you may want to take your chance now before the end of the month.

Once August comes to a close, so will the doors of the downtown Calgary landmark as a major renovation will take place over the next three years.

“It’s a full-scale renovation,” said Glenbow’s Chief Operating Officer and VP of Engagement Melanie Kjorlien.

The project is costing $120 million, and the museum will officially close to the public on Aug. 29.

The entire interior will be gutted, transforming the museum into something completely unfamiliar to visitors since the museum originally opened back in 1966.

“All of the exhibitions that people would have seen at the museum over these many years on our three exhibition floors, those are all being removed,” she said. “Relocating many of our services, for example our theatre is moving from where it’s currently located to the south end of the building. It’s a really extensive renovation.”

Kjorlien said existing collections will be cared for, and there will also be a satellite space opening up in February at a yet-to-be-announced location in the downtown core so people can still check out a large-scale exhibition. That location will be announced in September.

It will also be almost unrecognizable from the outside once the renovations are complete, with the aging concrete facade getting tossed in the dumpster.

“We are going to be taking off that concrete that encases the entire building and putting up a new facade that is going to allow, in really select parts of the building, some light to come into the Glenbow. Currently, it really closes off the museum from the public outside and from the public inside the building. That’s a really important transformation for us.”

A concept drawing shows the new planned exterior of the Glenbow Museum.

By making use of more windows, Kjorlien said it will also attract more people from outside and they will be able to get a glimpse of some of the exhibits just while walking down Stephen Ave.

Speaking of attracting people from outside, there will also be a dedicated entrance so visitors will no longer have to get in through the Telus Convention Centre.

“A comment that we get often from people is they can be standing outside the Glenbow and they don’t know where the museum is,” she said. “We are going to be putting in a double-height front door which will face east towards Olympic Plaza.”

Improving access is a major theme of the renovations, as Kjorlien said adding the dedicated entrance and modernizing the interior will hopefully bring more people in.

“We’re also really wanting to make more of that building accessible to visitors. Right now, a visitor to the Glenbow could visit four floors of the museum, but our focus is making sure that on every single floor of the Glenbow — there’s eight floors — that as a visitor of the Glenbow you can see something on every single floor. We’re going to have views into our collection storage, we’re going to have visible storage of the collection, making the collection more accessible to people more often. And we’re adding some other really important features like an exterior rooftop patio,” she said. “We’re adding some really great community spaces to the museum.”

This concept drawing shows the plans for a rooftop patio on top of the renovated Glenbow Museum.

By making collections more accessible and visible, Kjorlien added it presents the opportunity to improve programming for children and increasing exposure to history and culture. The Glenbow will also be updating its exhibition programs so the collections will be rotating more frequently and you’ll be more likely to see something new on every visit.

“We’re also adding some really important enhanced education spaces for school children,” she added. “To make those experiences even better for learners of all ages.”

While it is unfortunate the space will be shuttered for such a long time — as they aim for a reopening date in the middle of 2024 — Kjorlien said it is also very exciting, and thinks it will be a major attraction in the area for years to come.

“I think people will see a Glenbow that they’re really excited to be a part of and proud of, I think it’s going to be an incredible transformation.”