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Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center
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The main entrance
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| Location: | 30 W. Dale St., Colorado Springs, Colorado |
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| Area: | 1.6 acres (0.65 ha) |
| Built: | 1936 |
| Architect: | Meem,John Gaw; Rogers,Platt |
| Architectural style: | Art Deco |
| Governing body: | Private |
| NRHP Reference#: |
86001455 [1] |
| Added to NRHP: | July 03, 1986 |
The Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center (FAC) is an arts center located just north of downtown Colorado Springs, Colorado. Located on the same city block are the American Numismatic Association and part of the campus of Colorado College.
The center uses a thick red outline of a square as its logo.
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The Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center was founded in 1936 by Alice Bemis Taylor, Elizabeth Sage Hare, and Julie Penrose, with the intention of creating a center for a museum, art school and performing arts venue for the growing city. The building was designed by New Mexico architect John Gaw Meem who combined Pueblo Revival Style and Art Deco style in many of his designs, but not in this one. In 1940, Meem's design earned a Silver Medal at the Fifth Quadrennial Pan American Congress of Architecture. The building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The murals on the exterior of the building were produced by Boardman Robinson and Eric Bransby.
At the original Grand Opening in April 1936, Martha Graham danced barefoot on stage; art icon Alexander Calder executed the stage design for an operetta; and Frank Lloyd Wright lectured on the new building. Art luminaries Boardman Robinson and Robert Motherwell were early teachers at the art school.
The FAC includes:
The 2006 FAC expansion brought the galleries from 88,388 to 132,286 gross square feet (12,290m2). During construction, the Center's exhibits were partially moved to the FAC Modern facility. $28.6 million was raised from private funds to renovate and expand the facility. The addition was designed by award-winning architect and Colorado Springs native David Owen Tryba. As a child, Tryba learned to ride his bike in the FAC parking lot as his mother served the institution as a docent, and as a teenager, Tryba learned to drive in the lot on West Dale Street.
Renovations of the existing Taylor Museum facilities were also included in this project, which was concluded in 2007, although to date the performing arts sound system has not been replaced. Following a large advertising campaign, an "Extremely Grand Opening" was held in early August 2007.
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