On Mon, 23 Nov 1998, Met History wrote: > In a message dated 11/23/98 3:25:03 AM EST, [log in to unmask] writes: > > > I thought that the original interior of the Jewish Museum was destroyed > > long before the addition was built. > > Beg to differ: many of the interiors were intact (down to floors and > mouldings), but carefully painted out in flat black, and covered with > exhibition mounting board. It was clear to me in early visits, and in 1991 > when I toured the building while demolition was underway. Again, it has been years since the one time I saw the building, but it seemed to me at the time like the historic interior was a total loss. I would have thought I'd have noticed the type of treatment you describe (which I have noted in other museum-in-historic-space contexts), but maybe I wasn't looking hard enough, or my memory is faulty. If they gutted the original house as part of the addition project, that's a real shame. However, the finding of the Landmarks Commission (which you quoted in another posting) can only speak to the exterior. How many times have I, as chair of a similar commission here in Ann Arbor, heard people ask: "How can you approve that facade? They *ruined* the interior!" -- and had to explain once again that the historic district ordinance applies only to exteriors. (Yes, I realize that New York does have the power to designate and control historic interior spaces in certain limited circumstances.) Larry Kestenbaum