A 14-foot-tall sign with an electronic display will soon greet visitors to the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts despite protests from neighbors who contend the aesthetic clashes with their historic homes.
Richard F. Sliwoski, director of the Virginia Department of General Services, approved the modernistic sign for the Boulevard after a recommendation by the state's Art and Architectural Review Board. The sign is not subject to the city's zoning regulations because the museum is a state institution.
The $100,000 to $150,000 sign is expected to be installed in early February and is needed to support the $150 million expansion that was completed in May, spokeswoman Suzanne Hall said.
"We are attracting more and more people who have never been to Richmond," she said.
The sign will be made of stainless steel to match materials in the museum, and it will include a high-definition electronic display that will showcase exhibits and works, Hall said.
However, some neighbors are crying foul.
Fan District resident Barbara Hartung said she has written Gov. Bob McDonnell about her concerns after what she believes was a sneaky approval process. The Art and Architectural Review Board, whose members are appointed by the governor, endorsed the sign as architecturally appropriate in November after having received no comments from the public, said Chairman Brian J. Ohlinger, an associate vice president at Virginia Commonwealth University.
Hartung said the Fan District Association learned about the sign proposal in an e-mail from the museum about 24 hours before the state board meeting. At that point, she said her neighborhood group was unable to take a position because its bylaws require 48 hours notice before a meeting. Hartung is president of the association but said she is speaking for herself.
Hall said museum officials sent out the e-mail as a courtesy and had not intended to surprise or frustrate neighbors. With the sign, "our intention is to communicate in a subtle and elegant way in keeping with the art museum," she said.
Hartung said she is not bothered by the sign's modernistic design but does object to a continuously changing, digital display. She compared it a sign "you might see in Las Vegas or Motel 6."
"People are kind of appalled that the museum is doing this," she said. "It is a residential area. … It's a slap in the face to the city of Richmond. For them to put up something so radically at odds with the neighborhood is not creating good will."
Del. G. Manoli Loupassi, R-Richmond, whose 68th District includes part of the Boulevard area, said he had been unaware of the sign and objections to it. He called the museum's expansion exceptional and said investments in the institution have only lifted the neighborhoods nearby.
"They named their civic association the Museum District [Association]," Loupassi said, referring to a group covering properties west of the Boulevard.
wjones@timesdispatch.com
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