By Charlie Patton
Times-Union staff writer

Interior demolition has begun on the Galleria Building, the first step in a complete renovation that will turn the Hemming Plaza building into the new home of the Jacksonville Museum of Modern Art.

The goal is to rethe museum in the spring of 2003, said Preston Haskell, who is heading the fund-raising campaign and whose engineering firm is managing the project. The campaign goal, he said, is to raise $8 million. The renovation will cost about $4 million. The rest of the money will provide the museum with an endowment of about $4 million.

Thus things are looking up for JMoMA, which began in 1924 as the Jacksonville Fine Arts Society, became the Jacksonville Art Museum in 1948 after moving into a former home on Riverside Avenue, moved to a new museum in the Koger Center in 1966, and was renamed the Jacksonville Museum of Contemporary Art in 1995.

Two years ago, membership was in serious decline, several key board members defected and the museum was seriously in debt. The museum sold its building, located on Art Museum Drive between Beach and Atlantic boulevards just south of the St. Nicholas area, for $500,000 to philanthropist Ira Koger, who has turned it into the Koger Gallery and Gardens.

JMoCA, renamed the Jacksonville Museum of Modern Art, began looking for a new home in a more central and visible location. The choice was the Galleria Building, located at 333 Laura St., at the corner of Laura and Duval, facing west onto Hemming Plaza. Designed by the firm of Marsh & Saxelbye and built in 1931, the building originally served as Jacksonville headquarters for Western Union Telegraph. The building stood adjacent to the St. James Building, which faces south across Duval Street onto Hemming Plaza, and is now Jacksonville City Hall.

Although the museum initially agreed to buy the building for $1.25 million, the city subsequently agreed to pay $1.5 million to cover the cost of the building and some initial rehabilitation. The first improvement, already completed, was a new roof. The city assumed ownership of the building and agreed to lease it to the museum for 99 years at $10 a year. Now, as the renovation work begins, the challenge is to raise the money.

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  The Galleria Building in downtown Jacksonville is future home to the Jacksonville Museum of Modern Art. -- John Pemberton/Staff--------------------------------------------------

So far, the financial status of the museum has significantly improved. All debt has been retired and the museum has operated at a surplus for the last two years. New trustees have joined the board and giving from trustees has increased 525 percent over the last two years. The fund-raising campaign has generated commitments of about $2 million so far, Haskell said.

Haskell, who in the past has been more active as a member of the board of The Cummer Museum of Art & Gardens, said he agreed to chair the fund-raising campaign because of his belief that there is a need for both institutions in Jacksonville. The Cummer's mission is to serve as a survey museum, representing all art movements and art history, while JMoMA will be more focused on contemporary art, he said.

"Many cities our size and smaller have contemporary institutions," said Haskell, whose own collection of modern art, focusing on abstract expressionism, was recently picked as one of the 50 best private collections in America by Art & Antiques magazine. "There is a great interest in contemporary art, especially among younger patrons, and the Cummer's collection does not include much in terms of 20th century art."

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  The interior of the Galleria Building will be gutted and renovated to accommodate the Jacksonville Museum of Modern Art. -- John Pemberton/Staff--------------------------------------------------

Jane Craven, who joined the museum as executive director shortly before the old building was sold, echoes that opinion. "Every great city has a museum of modern and contemporary art," she said, "something that reflects the art of our time."

Maarten van de Guchte, director of the Cummer, agreed that there is a place for both museums in a city Jacksonville's size. "I would hope that the Museum of Modern Art would occupy a niche by bringing in cutting edge work," he said. "I think it's only good to have competition."

Besides providing an opportunity to showcase a permanent collection of about 700 pieces, most of which is currently in storage, JMoMA's new home will emphasize the education function of the museum, Craven said.

The fifth floor of the five-story building will be converted into the education floor, with classroom and studio space.

The most distinctive feature of the building, which has been designed by a consortium of

19 architects headed by Walter Taylor and William Morgan, will be an atrium gallery on the first floor. Built into what is currently a notch in the

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Annual membership in the Jacksonville Museum of Modern Art is $40 for an individual, $60 for a family and $25 for students or seniors. Anyone wishing to join or to make a donation to JMoMA's fund-raising campaign can contact the museum development director, Sherry Hogan, at , extension 14, or write to the museum at P.O. Box 40248, Jacksonville, FL 32203. --------------------------------------------------

U-shaped building, it will rise

38 feet and will be located at the rear of the first floor. The first floor will also include both a coffee shop and gift shop.

The second and third floors of the 60,000-square-foot building will be the two main galleries, which will be used to display both the permanent collection and some visiting collections. The permanent collection includes works by such 20th century masters as Pablo Picasso, Joan Miro, Alexander Calder, Robert Rauschenberg, Helen Frankenthaler and Frank

Stella.

The fourth floor will contain administrative offices and the fifth floor will house the education department.

The building's basement will be converted into an auditorium, Craven said.

Occupying most of the block on which JMoMA's building stands will be the new downtown library, which will face onto Laura Street and wrap around the Galleria Building, filling the block that is bounded by Laura, Duval, Monroe and Main streets.

Although the museum won't move into the building for another year and a half, part of the first floor is serving as temporary gallery space for exhibits that change every two or three months. "American Beauty," an exhibit of sculptures by Jack Dowd, recently completed a three-month stay at JMoMA. The next exhibit, "Speak Truth to Power: Human Rights Defenders Who Are Changing Our World," featuring photographs by Pulitzer Prize-winning photojournalist Eddie Adams, Aug. 21 and continues through Oct. 17. A reception for the exhibit will be held from 7 to 9 p.m. Sept. 13, following a lecture by Kerry Kennedy Cuomo, who will speak at 6 p.m. at Historic Snyder Memorial, the headquarters of the St. Johns River City Band, which is also located on Hemming Plaza at the corner of Laura and Monroe streets. Both events are free to members of JMoMA. For non-members, the charge is $10 for the lecture and $5 for the reception. Because seating for Cuomo's lecture is limited to 200, reservations are necessary and can be made by calling .