PROJECTS
beyond formosa
132 years after Elisabet Ney built her home studio, Formosa, on what was then the edge of town on a prairie, and 113 years after the site became the first art museum in Austin and second in the state, the City of Austin Parks and Recreation Department in partnership with the Friends of the Elisabet Ney Museum will undertake an expansive project to create a new cultural experience for our city. For significant improvements to be made, the facility will be closed to the public December 30, 2024 through Summer 2026.
The interpretive project endeavors to re-assess Ney’s life, artwork, legacy, landscape, process, and evaluate how the 2.5-acre wild respite in the middle of the city could be best protected, revitalized, and refocused to serve the communities and visitors of today and the decades to come. The museum honors and carries on Elisabet Ney’s spirit while also bringing it into the twenty-first century with a thriving contemporary arts program celebrating the commonalities between 19th-century art and modern times through the lens of artists. After an eight-month public engagement initiative in partnership with expert consultancies, historians, and advocates—backed by a volunteer-led fundraising campaign, and various grants, the Elisabet Ney Museum is entering a once in a lifetime transformation.
The Elisabet Ney Museum will close on December 30, 2024 for a Capital Improvement Project, to start in early 2025. Work on the approximately 3,700 square foot museum facility will include restoration of original exterior wood doors and windows, upgrades and replacement of the Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning system, replacement of the exhibit and general lighting systems, repairs to the roof, masonry, plumbing, and interior finishes. Exterior work includes replacing the pedestrian bridge across Waller Creek and installation of accessible pathways, to better connect the museum’s grounds. The site work also includes approximately 20,000 square feet of Waller Creek bank stabilization.
The Elisabet Ney Museum sits in the historic Hyde Park Neighborhood of Central Austin and is visited by 21,000 local, national, and international guests each year. The Museum is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, designated as a Texas State Antiquities Landmark, a Recorded Texas Historic Landmark, a City of Austin Historic Landmark, a contributing site to the Hyde Park National Register Historic District and the Hyde Park Local Historic District, and is a member of the National Trust for Historic Preservation's Historic Artists’ Homes and Studios program. Funding for this restoration project is provided through 2012 Bond, Proposition 14, the Parkland Dedication Fund, the Historic Preservation Fund, and contributions from the Friends of the Elisabet Ney Museum. This project is located within zip code 78751 (District 9).
A rehabilitation plan to address the museum’s historic landscape funded by individual supporters, multiple grants (including from the Stillwater Foundation, National Trust, City of Austin Economic Development Department, and Austin Parks Foundation), and the Friends of the Elisabet Ney Museum will be completed in 2024. This plan designed by Ten Eyck Landscape Architects and Co’Design was created in collaboration with extensive community input and will improve access to the museum’s 2.5 acres of wilderness, create an outdoor classroom space, and a new entryway plaza. Additionally, the museum's new interpretive plan, begun in 2023 with MuseWork and Creative Policy and informed by extensive research and a robust public engagement campaign, will be activated during the final stages of the construction project and be implemented upon reopening. The entire project is expected to be completed Fall 2026.
The goals are to preserve Formosa, the world’s largest collection of Ney’s artworks housed in the studio, and key historical ecological elements of the property while updating access, safety, climate control for the collection, gathering places, and opportunities to engage all in a holistic and forward-looking way. The overall transformation is aimed at sustainability and broadening the experience for visitors to engage with Ney’s life work, artistic process, lived experience, world view, and the symbolism of her story against the backdrop of tomorrow. The intent is for anyone who arrives at the Elisabet Ney Museum to feel welcome, inspired, and reinvigorated.
For further information and updates, please visit: https://www.austintexas.gov/department/elisabet-ney-museum-improvements and https://www.austintexas.gov/department/elisabet-ney-museum