On the road to ‘total renovation’
During the Palace of the Governors’ six-month closure, announced earlier this week, museum officials will be finishing up the second phase of a $1.5 million multi-year project to update the 400-year-old facility.
New Mexico History Museum director Andy Wulf said the renovation project, which began in 2016, is being paid for with funding secured from the state Legislature with support from the National Trust for Historic Preservation.
Following a new stucco job and replastering on the outside of the facility in 2016 and 2017, the remaining approximately $900,000-$1 million will be spent on two major indoor projects, according to Wulf. One is an HVAC system to “stabilize the environment” inside the Palace. The second, he said, is the addition of a fire sprinkler system inside the building.
“The Palace has never had any fire retardant measures and we felt like it was time,” said Wulf.
The closure of the downtown Plaza’s major attraction will start Aug. 1.
The building will be equipped with a dry pipe sprinkler system, Wulf said. Instead of typical sprinkler systems with pipes that are always storing water, dry pipes have a valve that holds back the water until a smoke sensor is triggered. He said utilizing dry pipe is a preventative measure against damaging the ancient adobe building if a pipe broke.
“It’s our treasure, and it’s our baby,” said Wulf.
The latest phase will get the Palace to “almost the point of total renovation,” he said. Additional updates that the museum hopes to fund through the public or private sector are improvements to doors, windows and flooring.
The first month or so of the closure will be spent de-installing all of the Palace’s exhibits, Wulf said. The staff hopes to host monthly “Palace in the Raw” open houses that will provide information on the remodel with lectures, he said. He added that the portal artist program for Native American vendors in front of the Palace will continue “without any hiccups,” despite the closure.
Adjacent facilities, including the History Museum, Palace Press, the History Library and Photo Archives, will also stay open during the renovation.