New: Contemporary Art Museum Headed for Downtown

The Historic Core institution would feature downtown artists, a rooftop garden.

There are some stretches of our city, like any city, that practically embody the term stasis. The buildings remain unchanged, the businesses look like they did a decade ago, the details along the block are constant, as are the vibe, the hues, the everything.

Downtown's Historic Core is not that stretch. You can visit a Downtown Art Walk, and then join another just two months later, and you'll see time, development, and fresh enterprise spinning madly. But while things are a-changin' at a notable clip in the area, vintage structures still rule Spring and Main Streets, meaning that the old and new are pairing up in a bevy of ways.

Enter The Old Bank District Museum. Real estate visionary Tom Gilmore, a name very much associated with the Historic Core and the revival of buildings therein, is pairing up with architect Tom Wiscombe to launch an epic, locally minded art institution within the stalwart structures shouldering Main and Fourth Streets.

Jerri Perrone is Mr. Gilmore's partner in visualizing the museum and squaring up financing for the project, which will focus on th work of downtown artists.

The buildings -- the Hellman, Farmers and Merchants Bank Building, and the Old Bank Garage, per Curbed LA -- will see a full re-think in all quarters. All quarters=basement to rooftops. The Old Bank Garage is set to see an art-major, sculpture-forward garden pop up on its tip-top.

Speaking of sculpture-forward and Ideas of Tomorrow, Mr. Wiscombe is much-associated with the forward-go Southern California Institute of Architecture as is Mr. Gilmore, who donated a million dollars to SCI-Arc in 2013 for an endowed chair.

Soon, it appears, the Old Bank District will truly be the newest place in town. For now it remains the nextiest, which is not a technical art term but it fits the into-the-future movement of the Historic Core quite well.

Copyright FREEL - NBC Local Media
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