Utica is getting a “new” garden on Genesee Street, one with native plants, walkways, a sculpture by a renowned artist, places to sit and room for hosting programs, all set against the backdrop of two historic buildings.
Picture native gray birches standing over beds planted with a matrix of native fern varieties and paths lined with clumps of undulating native grasses so thick that kids running by will feel like they’re in a cloud. Envision flowering ornamental trees and bulbs blooming in the spring; the delicate blossoms of the official Oneida County flower trillium opening in the late spring; perennials and shrubs blooming in the summer; the fiery leaves from a variety of trees contrasted against a fall sky; and the red branches of a dogwood standing out against the wintertime snow.
“There’s gonna be a lot of plants and all of them are fabulous,” said landscape architect Zakery Steele, of Steele Landscape Architecture, the Fairport-based firm designing the project.
Munson garden
This 49,000 square-foot garden oasis is under construction on the property of a local landmark — Munson.
“The Munson Genesee Street project will transform what is now a treeless and concrete-heavy landscape to a welcoming, park-like setting with trees, gardens and community spaces,” Munson President and CEO Anna D’Ambrosio said. “It will create an accessible front entrance to the Museum of Art, a beautiful setting for events and will recapture the essential neighborhood environment lost over the last few decades.”
Munson revealed its plans at a ceremonial groundbreaking with local officials on Thursday, although work on the project actually began on April 1 and the project should mostly be completed in November.
It’s being paid for with $800,000 from the state Downtown Revitalization Initiative (DRI) grant awarded to Utica.
“Breaking ground today on the transformation of Munson’s greenspace on Genesee Street is met with great significance,” Utica Mayor Mike Galime said. “Each year Munson is a clear part of Utica’s downtown activities and has always been one of Utica’s greatest assets. With this initiative, we are marking its future as a renewed landmark in our community.”
Accessibility
Native plants will make the garden more resilient and less in need of care and watering, Steele said. Other principles behind the project include creation of a welcoming space, public access, accessibility, support for Munson’s art-based programming, safety and historic rehabilitation.
Accessibility wasn’t part of the original project plan, D’Ambrosio said. But Steele and Sue Steele, founder of the firm, convinced Munson officials that they had a big opportunity to make the museum’s Genesee Street-facing door more accessible and allow visitors of all abilities to use the outdoor spaces, she said.
So, some private donors added to the DRI money. The front door currently opens to a sunken garden with steps on all sides. The area will be redone to create step-less access between the area and the museum and to add a ramp up toward Genesee Street. A new patio area will hold outdoor furniture and create a spot for programming.
Preserving history
Historic rehabilitation means landscaping the areas around Fountain Elms, the Victorian mansion of the Williams family, and the art museum, which opened in 1960, in a way that its with the period of each building and provides them appropriate context, Zakery Steele explained.
Many of the plants originally used on the property are no longer appropriate; many were invasive, Steele said. But the landscape architects consulted the original landscaping plan for the museum and chose native plants that will re-create the feel of the original design. The landscaping in that area will include plants for the building’s moat and trees.
And the hedge and fence currently blocking the view of the museum will be removed. Architect Philip Johnson designed the building with a lower-level glass façade to create the illusion that the building is floating, but the hedge and fence block the view, Steele said. Instead a low-profile fence will provide safety without obscuring the view, he said.
The project will also re-install artist Alexander Calder’s painted sheet metal sculpture Three Arches, created in 1963, outdoors in front of the museum.
The project will put a new tree scape along Genesee Street, but with diverse trees —such as elm, honey locust, red oak, sugar maple and Kentucky coffeetree— instead of just the elms that lined the road in the days before Dutch elm disease.
Gardens in front of Fountain Elms won't use the same plants, but will be reminiscent of the days when the Williams lived there.
Other details
And that leaves the center of the space by the 1995 education wing for a more contemporary garden to meet Munson’s modern-day needs, including the re-worked sunken garden area and patio, Steele said.
Part of the Munson’s “front yard” will still include a lawn as a public green area, but it will no longer be just a “nowhereness” with a lawn, a sidewalk and beautiful buildings, Steele said.
A curved seating wall, made with the Canadian black granite used throughout the museum, will demarcate one end of the lawn. It will feature the Munson logo and decorative elements to match some of the decorative arts on display in the museum’s collections, he said.
The outdoor improvements to Munson will, a bit ironically, mean that this year’s Arts Festival Sidewalk Show in July will have to move inside to the Museum of Art Root Court where art by local artists will hang juxtaposed with Hudson River masterpieces and other paintings in the museum’s summer exhibition, American Landscapes.
Other elements of the festival, including the Munson Car Show and the Big Prints Steamrollin’ Invitational will still take place outside on the State Street side of the museum.
Most Popular
Comments / 0