Sometime in the near future, the Judah L. Magnes Museum is going to nearly double in size.
Among the people that the Magnes’ supporters have to thank for this remarkable expansion is the late famous California historian Hubert Howe Bancroft, the scholar for whom U.C. Berkeley’s rare books library is named.
The Berkeley institution’s current Russell Street museum is 25,790 square feet, while the new Allston Way museum is anticipated to be 42,000 square feet. The Magnes’ neighbors will include the Berkeley Art Museum.
It’s as if Rabbi Judah L. Magnes, leader in Jewish communal affairs, had met Bancroft — and the two men became partners.
In real life, the two men never crossed paths, but fortunately for their respective institutions, their supporters did. Last February, the Judah L. Magnes Museum and the Bancroft Library signed a lease agreement which allows the Bancroft Library to relocate to the future home of the Magnes at 2121 Allston Way.
Everyone involved in the new location is “conscientious in our planning because we are the stewards of the Western Jewish History Center, an invaluable community asset,” says Terry Pink Alexander, Magnes executive director.
“The educational and exhibition programming, and the opportunity to showcase our encyclopedic collections will drive the architectural plans,” adds Alexander. “Through its creative, relevant, and vibrant activities the new Magnes will remain a welcoming venue for the community — its students, scholars, individuals and families.”
She adds that the Magnes has “received key strategic planning funding from both federations” and that “the Magnes soon will be seeking their approval to initiate a capital and endowment campaign.”
Magnes’ architect is Mark Cavagnero Associates, a San Francisco firm that has designed a number of cultural buildings in California, such as the California Palace of the Legion of Honor and the Museum of Contemporary Art at the Luther Burbank Center.
Preliminary design sketches on the firm’s Web site www.cavagnero.com show an airy layout with tons of windows and openings to let light in.
Alexander is unable to say when the museum will make its move downtown, explaining that the Bancroft Library has the option to extend its lease through the summer of 2008.
In the meantime, the Bancroft Library — which is being retrofitted according to state mandates — has a temporary home for its Western Americana collection, while work continues on the Bancroft’s permanent home at the Doe Library Annex on the Berkeley campus.
Bancroft is leasing the Allston site through December 2007 with the option to extend to July 2008, according to Alexander. Magnes plans to break ground soon thereafter.
Over the past few years, the Magnes has had some ups and downs.
In 2002, the Judah L. Magnes Museum and Jewish Museum San Francisco merged into a new institution called the Magnes Museum. The goal was to build two new museums, one in San Francisco and one in Berkeley.
But in 2003, following disagreements over the direction of the merged museum, the union dissolved. That’s when the Judah L. Magnes Museum reverted back to a separate entity, governed by its own board of directors.