ART
was constructed as a loggia surrounding an atrium,
a modern twist on classical architecture. Concrete
columns supported the portico’s concrete roof. It was,
she says, “built like a fortress” despite being open to
the elements and only seven feet above sea level.
THE DESIGN
The unusual garden design was reminiscent of
Backus’ gallery at his first studio on Moore’s Creek,
a structure that emphasized wall space and natural
light, since it was really just walls without a roof.
“It was made of concrete block and had a door at
each end and a garden in the middle,” recalls Robert
Terry Jr., who visited the studio many times as a
young man.
In 1959, Backus put his vision for the new gallery
on canvas, showing it complete with an iron gate and
wide wooden doors inspired by the old building. He
also painted scenes of his wish list for the landscaping
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of the new Memorial Park, lining the riverfront
with sentinels of palms and flowering tabebuia and
jacaranda trees.
According to Terry, who was a board member for
more than 40 years, money for the building’s construction
was raised in a pass-the-hat fashion. Some
gave as little as $2, and all contributed less than $500,
except for Backus and Dorothy Binney Putnam, each
of whom donated $1,000. To honor the 107 people who
chipped in a grand total of $12,000, Backus made a
plaque and displayed it in the gallery.
“When the building was completed, they were short
of funds, so each of the six board members contributed
$17.60 to balance the budget,” says Terry. One of the
first improvements made in the late 1960s was enclosing
the open patio and air-conditioning the space.
Later additions of four exhibition wings, restrooms
and a kitchen expanded the facility to 5,000 square
feet, but the immovable concrete columns remained.
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In gratitude, Backus himself made a plaque listing the original 107 donors who gave
money for the building. Besides landscapes, Backus was an expert at lettering, a skill
he developed in his early years while a poster artist for the Sunrise Theatre.
The original gallery was concrete with an open courtyard and wide
overhanging eaves. Paintings were on display on the walls both
inside and outside the gallery. The distinctive arched wooden doors
are one of the few architectural features that remain.