CHCA board recommends Woodmere’s plans for St. Michael’s Hall

by Tom Beck
Posted 8/4/22

The CHCA Board of Directors unanimously voted to recommend the Woodmere Art Museum’s plans to obtain variances for St. Michael’s Hall.

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CHCA board recommends Woodmere’s plans for St. Michael’s Hall

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The CHCA Board of Directors unanimously voted to recommend the Woodmere Art Museum’s plans to obtain variances for St. Michael’s Hall, a building located 72 steps from Woodmere it purchased in October after fundraising $7 million. Woodmere’s plan is to turn the building into a gallery.

“As I walked around the building and saw these amazing Victorian parlors and beautifully proportioned bedrooms, [I realized] St. Michael's Hall converts itself into galleries in a beautiful way,” Bill Valerio, Woodmere’s chief executive, said in March.

The primary variance Woodmere needs to open St. Michael’s Hall as a gallery is one that would allow museum use in a residential area. Two other variances allow for an addition and a separate auditorium that will be detached from the building. The addition will house a cafe and restaurant. 

Woodmere plans to open the former house as a gallery in the fall of 2024. The new gallery will double the amount of gallery space at Woodmere.

“We had never really allowed ourselves to dream so big that we would have galleries for showing a substantial portion of our collection,” Valerio has said.