Huntington to Swap Lawnmowers for Art

Meanwhile in San Marino, a far more elegant but much more obscure carriage house also is slated for renovation as an art space. Thanks to a $3-million gift from philanthropists George and MaryLou Boone, the Huntington Library Art Galleries and Botanical Gardens has unveiled plans to convert a 1911 building that once housed the Huntington family’s automobiles into an exhibition gallery.

“It’s a gorgeous building that needs a lot of loving care,” George Boone said. A longtime Huntington supporter who particularly enjoys restoration projects, he decided to finance this job when a feasibility study determined that the two-story, 7,200-square-foot building is basically sound. Its high ceilings and “wide-open spaces” make it an ideal place to display art, he said.

Located on a part of the grounds closed to the public, the carriage house has been used for 70 years as storage--trucks, mowers and the like, these days. In its reincarnation, it will be accessible from the Virginia Steele Scott Gallery, the Tea House and the parking lot.

The central feature of the project is a 3,450-square-foot exhibition space. The gallery will allow the Huntington to accommodate large temporary exhibitions in one place, instead of dividing them into separately housed segments, as in the past, MaryLou Boone said.

The renovated building also will have a conference room, a preparer’s work space, a room for crating artworks and a small retail shop. Among other planned improvements are a central skylight and new ceilings. The project is slated for completion in 1999.