Putting It in a Peaceful Place

Kidspace Museum Relocates to Pasadena Park

A 24-month-long project renovated a dusty cluster of 70-year-old buildings and preserved much of the site's 3.5-acre landscape. Contractors removed, restored and replaced the buildings' wooden sidings, added steel columns to seismically support the structures and relocated tall, old oak trees. Neighborhood associations played a big role in the planning process.

By Paul Napolitano

It's called a museum, but there are no famous paintings on its walls or funky-looking fossils in display cases. And it's not near a bus stop, train station, freeway or busy boulevard.

Visitors pass through a kaleidoscope-lined tube in the middle of the entry building above to get to the ticket booth, central courtyard and exhibit building in the rear of the property. Entrances to a party room, snack and souvenir shops and restrooms in the building above face the courtyard (photo by Paul Napolitano).

Instead, the recently completed Kidspace Museum in Pasadena--filled with whimsical structures that kids can crawl up, through, over and under--is nestled at the base of a long canyon--the Arroyo Seco--in sprawling Brookside Park. Well-manicured estates built in the first half of the 20th Century surround the museum site.

"Influential homeowner groups and local foundations insisted that the museum grounds be preserved as much as possible," said Stephen Baumann, the museum's executive director.

They also demanded at community workshops held during the project's planning phase that if the Kidspace Museum were to move to the park, the site's three buildings had to be part of the renovation. The single-story buildings were first used in the 1930s by the Fannie Morrison Horticultural Center, "which had a lot of connection to the community with regards to growing plants and things like that," Baumann said.

"[The buildings] also at one time served as a gathering spot for goods that were shipped from Pasadena to its sister city in Germany after World War II."

Baumann said that the new $11 million museum, which is across the street from the 100,000-seat Rose Bowl stadium, is a major improvement compared to its former location, a 4,500-sq.-ft. gymnasium of a public elementary school in downtown Pasadena. The museum's former site averaged about 60,000 visitors each year. Baumann projects about 150,000 visitors this year.

About $1.5 million of the project's overall cost was funded by the city of Pasadena. The remaining money came from local foundations and corporate donations, Baumann said.

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The Kidspace Museum buildings are positioned in the shape of the letter C. The 3.5-acre compound includes a large courtyard with interactive water features and a 2.2-acre garden with several exhibits.

A major part of the 19,000-sq.-ft. project involved seismically retrofitting and renovating the existing structures, last used by the city as a catch-all storage yard.

The decision to convert the existing buildings instead of erecting new structures on another site was made due to the natural beauty of the 3.5-acre site, ample free parking and the lower cost associated with converting the buildings, Baumann said.

Beauty aside, the 24-month-long project was a practice in preservation and patience for consultants and contractors.

"In order to perform the upgrades, we had to remove the exterior walls of the buildings," project manager Jeff Jarrett said from the museum's front lawn. Jarrett works for Santa Fe Springs-based Matt Construction, the general contractor.

Peyton Hall, a Pasadena-based consultant contracted by the owner, ensured that the preservation procedures established in the planning stage--including the removal, cataloging, storage and reinstallation of the shiplap wood siding-were adhered to during construction.

"We had to remove all of the wood siding (approximately 1,200 1 x 10 tongue- and-groove pieces) and identify each piece--starting from the bottom and moving in a clockwise direction," George Savary, Matt's project superintendent, said while showing pre-construction photos of the dilapidated buildings.

Construction crews began the seismic retrofit by digging 2 ft. below the buildings' foundation. Anchor bolts were attached to new 6-by-6, 8-ft.-long steel columns, which were attached to the building's existing steel columns.

Matt Construction contracted the services of ValleyCrest Tree Co. to relocate two oak trees-one 35-ft. tall and another 40-ft. tall, which is pictured in center of photo above--on the museum's grounds. (photo by Paul Napolitano).

"Each existing column was anchored into the stem wall," Savary added. "At each pilaster, there is a column for one building. In another building, the stem walls had to be cut out, and we put the steel column inside the wall to give it a smoother look."

Jarrett said other major rehab work included new wooden 4 x 6s to "beef up" the door openings; the replacement of the roof on one building and the addition of steel stiffener plates along the steel trusses of the new roof's support system; new skylights outfitted with fritted glass; restoration of the original steel light fixtures that hang from the rafters; and the installation of an air conditioning unit for the administrative offices.

Matt Construction contracted the services of Calabasas-based ValleyCrest Tree Co. to relocate two oak trees, one 35-ft. tall and the other 40-ft. tall, on the museum's grounds.

The proximity of the museum's rear building and a 300-ft.-long by 10-ft.-wide pergola to one of the trees' new location-the middle of a concrete patio--made the relocation process difficult.

"We had to load the [40-ft.-tall] tree in a certain fashion for its final placement because with a tree of that size you don't get to spin it around three times or do things with a tree that's only 12- or 15-ft. tall," said Bret Richardson, operations manager of ValleyCrest Tree Co.

"We had to station our crane in a position so that we could pick and set the tree, and do some minor tweaking. By tweaking, I mean turning it no more than 30 to 45 degrees in any one direction--and then we had to be able to bring the big pieces of equipment back out."

The 40-ft .oak has a caliper of 24 in. and a spread of 45 ft. Caliper is the diameter of a tree trunk at breast height.

Matt Construction's project manager, Jeff Jarrett, and project superintendent, George Savary, in the kaleidoscope tunnel (photo by Paul Napolitano).

The second oak was planted near the perimeter of the property. Both trees were originally about 150 ft. from each other. Richardson said that the trees are between 80 and 120 years old.

"The boxing of the trees-was performed before construction began," Richardson said. "The movement and planting was performed during construction."

The curvy pergola, a wooden trellis supported by two parallel rows of 15, 8-ft.-tall concrete columns, is another holdover from the 1930s and an additional feature that was on the homeowners' "must stay" list.

A cutting from the century-old Sierra Madre wisteria, a vine that is a popular tourist attraction when its purple flowers bloom each spring, grows on the "roof" of the renovated pergola, Baumann said. The city of Sierra Madre borders Pasadena.

To save the wisteria, the pergola footings were enlarged and grade beams were added, Savary said. The pergola's termite-damage trellis also was replaced.

And what about the "museum" name?

"We've called it a museum since it was formed back in 1979," Baumann said.

"Museums now encompass lots of organizations that don't necessarily have collections. And we can be a member of the American Association of Museums, which has traditionally been the art museums and the history museums."