Showcasing an Influential Arts Movement

The new $90 million Museum of the American Arts and Crafts Movement (MAACM) opens December 10 in St. Petersburg, Florida. Located in the city’s booming downtown art district, the 137,000-square-foot facility is the only major museum in the U.S. dedicated to the Arts and Crafts Movement of the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries. The Movement, which started in England and spread through Europe and North America, found artists reverting to traditional craftsmanship and simple forms.

Brilliant Brazilian granite panels and Arts and Crafts–era tile murals accentuate the architecturally striking building. One such mural decorates the museum’s five-story soaring atrium, which features Frank Lloyd Wright–inspired stained-glass skylights. Sixty-thousand square feet of quarter-sawn white oak flooring pays homage to the Movement’s use of natural materials.

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The museum offers 40,000 square feet of permanent galleries and includes 2,000 objects, such as rare and one-of-a-kind examples of furniture, pottery, metalwork, tiles, lighting, color wood blocks, photography, jewelry, and fine art from the early 20th century. The facility incorporates an auditorium, an event and banquet hall, a graphic studio, an education studio, and 10,000 square feet for changing exhibitions. On the first floor are the museum store as well as a café, a restaurant, and a research library.

MAACM is the culmination of a six-year collaboration between founder/ collector/benefactor Rudy Ciccarello and modernist architect Alberto Alfonso.