Childhood Dreams

Aging School Revamped as Museum for Phoenix Children

By Scott Blair

Built in 1914, the classical revival-style Monroe Elementary School is being converted into the Children’s Museum of Phoenix.

After 10 years on the road, the Children’s Museum of Phoenix has finally found a home. Crews are converting the former Monroe School, a 94-year-old building located in downtown Phoenix, into a bright and colorful space for children to learn and be entertained.

The Monroe Elementary School in downtown Phoenix had seen better days. Built in 1914, it was decommissioned as a school in 1972 and enlisted to serve as a recruiting center for the U.S. Dept. of Defense in the 1980’s. By 2001, its future was in serious jeopardy.

“There was an active demolition permit when the city bought the building,” says Kate Wells, director of development and communications with the Children’s Museum of Phoenix. Funding for the building’s $5 million purchase price was included in an Arts and Culture bond initiative that passed voter approval in 2001.

“I’m so happy we were able to save the building,” Wells says. “It’s going to be a cultural landmark, and to be able to have contributed to that is very fulfilling.”

Yet it wasn’t just about saving an old building from the wrecking ball. After years of fundraising, the museum will once again bring back the echo of children’s footsteps to the school after renovations are complete in June.

Incorporated almost 10 years ago, the Children’s Museum of Phoenix has never had a home base, using traveling exhibits in vans and buses to reach over 450,000 children and parents throughout the valley.

The 75,000-sq-ft masonry structure was in relatively good condition when crews from Scottsdale-based D.L. Norton General Contracting Inc. began working on the $9.7 million, multi-phased project in April 2007. “Under the first phase of the project, we did quite a bit of restoration to the exterior masonry and the roof,” says Kevin Norton, principal with the general contractor.

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The three-story classical revival-style building also included a concrete block addition that was built in the 1980’s when the building was converted into government offices. Formerly housing three stories of dark, tightly-packed cubicles, the addition is being completely gutted to be reborn as the museum’s entryway and main atrium, says Lisa Foreman, AIA, principal with executive architect Fore Dimensions, who partnered with fellow Phoenix-based design architect Wendell Burnette Architects on the project.

“Anything in the 1914 building and the exterior needed to keep within the historic preservation standards,” Foreman says. “But the Historic Preservation office did not care about the 1980’s building, so that helped to lay out the design. Where we needed high-volume spaces, we could rip out the floors of the 1980’s building to allow for unique, tall exhibits.”

One such exhibit, the Tower Climber, will be suspended in the space above the atrium. Created from standard building materials and found objects, it “looks like something Dr. Seuss would have designed,” Wells says.

Before the interior floors could be removed to create the atrium, a structural steel diaphragm had to be installed by hand to the building’s existing footings to support the structure, Norton says.

Structural steel also has to be delicately threaded into place within the 1914 portion of the building. “One of the bigger things being done throughout the building is reinforcing it to bring the floor loads up to museum rating,” Norton says.

The largest beam is 40-ft long and weighs 7,000 lbs.

“It’s been like a big puzzle that they’ve had to figure out how to put together,” says Bonnie Fish, project manager with the City of Phoenix, which retains ownership of the building while the museum occupies it. “They’ll cut holes in the floor to move the steel into the building, lift it up, roll it through to the different rooms, then lift the steel into place. It is quite impressive to think all of it is being done manually.”

“We did a lot of it on the fly,” says Scott Giles, project superintendent with D.L. Norton. “You don’t want to start cutting holes in the side of the building or roof. Those options are always available but fortunately we didn’t have to pursue any of them. We built templates and tried them out first before we got into a real situation.”

The building’s HVAC system was completely replaced with cooling towers, 25 heat pumps and two air handlers, which also added to the structural load. “These heat pumps are 900 lbs each--one of the heavier models--and how to hang these in this old building has been one of the more complicated situations to deal with,” Giles says.

55,000 sq ft will be occupied by the museum for exhibits, public space and offices, while 15,000 sq ft is being mothballed for future exhibit space. The remaining space will be available for lease.

Fundraising has been a constant challenge for the museum. “When we won the bond election and got the building, it was like inheriting the castle, but we had no money to furnish it or pay the bills,” Wells says. “We are the tenants and are doing the construction, but we couldn’t take out a traditional construction loan because we don’t own the building and we don’t have any collateral. The city couldn’t collateralize it for us because it’s against city regulations.”

To date the museum has raised $9.49 million from supporters in the community. “We had to collateralize our pledges, which is very uncommon,” she says. “The traditional, large banks wouldn’t even give us a second look.”

The solution came from San Francisco-based healthcare provider Catholic Healthcare West, who funds a community loan program. Additional loans were provided by several small local banks.

However, getting funding in bits and pieces has led to some complex scheduling at the jobsite. “From day one it has been a constant exercise in trying to fit budget against the work that’s done,” Norton says. “We would package items [in separate phases] to fit the money - such as electrical and structural in one phase, and HVAC in the next.”

The museum will demonstrate sustainable concepts to children through its exhibits. While the building is not being submitted for LEED certification, it will include items such as low-flow toilets and zero-VOC paint.

The building itself will act as one of the exhibits. “We’ve exposed the structure, pipes and ductwork, allowing the kids to understand from an educational perspective that the pipes move the water from one end to the other and the ductwork moves the air,” Foreman says.

Key Players

Owner/Stakeholder: City of Phoenix; Children's Museum of Phoenix
GC: D.L. Norton General Contractor
Architects: Wendell Burnette Architects; Fore Dimensions
Structural Engineer: Transystems
Subcontractors: Midstate Mechanical; Jen Electric; Olympic West; Atek Development; Jim Brown & Sons; Hernandez Painting; Romanaski Glass

Useful Sources

Learn more about the museum, the facility and its exhibits at www.childrensmuseumofphoenix.org/

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