The Contemporary Jewish Museum (CJM)revealed it will sell its building in downtown San Francisco.
The non-collecting museum was established in 1984 and has long been found in a brick substation from the 19th century created by Willis Polk with a deconstructivist addition completed in 2008 by Daniel Libeskind.
It is uncertain at this time what will occur to the Libeskind structure, inspired by the Hebrew expression l’chaim, which means “to life.”
Libeskind thought up an angled, blue steel-clad structure connected to the power plant, whose interiors were revamped in order to fit together with the addition. San Francisco Chronicle applauded the CJM for “how smoothly it suits the landscape.”
Writing in the Los Angeles Times, Christopher Hawthorne said the Contemporary Jewish Museum “handles to feel spatially enthusiastic and architecturally resolved at the very same time” and “reveals Libeskind working in a more restrained, even muted, mode than ever previously.”
The CJM has actually been closed since December 2024. In a press statement dated March 18, the museum cited the “quickly altering not-for-profit and arts landscape” as the reason that it requires to tighten its belt by scaling down.
Offering the building is supposed to assist “support finances, secure endowment assets, and articulate a brand-new vision that will resonate with future audiences,” CJM stated.
Moving forward, the museum stated it is trying to find a buyer that is “complementary” to the Yerba Buena community, where it is positioned.
“It has been both an honor and a profound responsibility to form a building for this neighborhood– one that changes a historic power station into a new architectural expression of light, type, and public life,” Libeskind said in a declaration.