A Boston Museum's Deft Attempt at Balancing Old and New

Cities are constantly in a tug-of-war with the old and the new. The Eiffel Tower was considered an eyesore when first built; the first skyscrapers of Chicago, similarly an outrage. Jackie Onassis helped fight a proposed modernist tower that would have transformed Grand Central Terminal in New York. Pennsylvania Station could not escape its destruction, replaced by Madison Square Garden. Fenway Park, with Wrigley Field the last of the old-time major league ballparks standing, avoided the wrecking ball and modernized replacement. The owners once said it was unsafe and would fall down any day. Since then, it has been extensively renovated and had multiple appendages added, and this year will celebrate its 100th anniversary.

Of all the civic institutions of a city, museums are where these kinds of decisions are made routinely – to start fresh with a new building, or more typically, to make a modern addition, blending the traditions of the past with contemporary facilities and design. It can either be controversial and a study in contrast -- Daniel Libeskind's addition to the Dresden Museum of Military History, to cite one of many recent examples -- or more subtle, as in Norman Foster’s addition at the northeast side of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, a second expansion after I.M. Pei’s addition at the southwest side of the neo-classical main building.