Otis Booth Foundation Gives Natural History Museum Entrance a $13 Million Facelift

News

January 13, 2011

by Valerie Friedrich

Field trips to the legendary learning center will once again be of great prestige. The Otis Booth Foundation has signed on to donate a generous $13 million to the Natural History Museum’s comprehensive “NHM Next” renovation project.

The Los Angeles-based foundation’s largest contribution to date will afford the museum the vital opportunity to abandon its current cold, dreary entrance and embrace a more welcoming, modern, airy appearance with a captivating wall-to-wall glass pavilion.

Named after notable Los Angeles Times mogul Otis Booth, the 60-foot-high entry way will draw plenty of oohs and ahhs with a jaw-dropping, behemoth fin whale skeleton. The signature artifact, which has been in the institution’s family since 1944, will anchor the structure and serve as the official induction into the newly revamped indoor/outdoor museum.

The additional buildings, which are estimated to cost about $135 million in donations, are said to be completed by the time NHM celebrates its century-old birthday in 2013. The Age of Mammals exhibit and Haaga Family Rotunda are already open to the public, while an all-new Dinosaur gallery is slated to open this July.

In addition to attracting additional influential donors, inquisitive youths and teens will finally be able to embark on a lavish scientific journey through time. According to the Los Angeles Times, annual attendance will rise from approximately 600,000 to more than 1 million.

Once a place to yawn and twittle thumbs, NHM will finally be a luxurious place to learn and grow.  Downtown onlookers, current donors and museum devotees await the final outcome with anticipation and high hopes.

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