Jersey City Museum is a former art museum that was most recently located in the Van Vorst Park section of Downtown Jersey City, New Jersey. Serving a diverse community, the Museum collects, exhibits, preserves, and interprets its collections of 19th- and 20th-century paintings, works on paper, sculpture, and material culture from the region. In order to stimulate community participation in the visual arts, and to reflect the cultural diversity of New Jersey, the Jersey City Museum gives special attention to the exhibition of contemporary art, and recognizes the many visual artists who make their home in New Jersey and the neighboring metropolitan area. Due to financial difficulties, the Museum has been closed to the general public since December 2010.[1] and is not expected to re-open.[2]
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The cream-colored brick building, a former post office warehouse circa 1929, was renovated for $6.5 million. Designed by architect Charles Gifford of Meyer & Gifford of New York, the interior offered an attractive modern space enhanced by a skylight lobby. The museum holds a collection of 20,000 pieces. The museum consists of offices, a classroom, several galleries, a 152-seat theater, and a gift shop.[3] However, the Museum is months behind in its mortgage payments and is in danger of losing the building. A 10,000-piece collection remains.
The Jersey City Museum dates back to 1901, when it was located on the fourth floor of the Jersey City Free Public Library on Jersey Avenue. It remained under the aegis of the Library until 1987, when the Museum Association initiated efforts for the founding of a separate institution. In 1993, the Jersey City Redevelopment Agency donated the building at 350 Montgomery Street. The mission of the museum is to serve the community by "maintaining, preserving, and interpreting the region's cultural heritage."
Jersey City historian J. Owen Grundy served five times as the museum's president.[4]
