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The Adirondack Experience

Location: Blue Mountain Lake, New York

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The Adirondack Experience traces its origins to the Log Hotel which was built in 1876 as a vacation destination on logging property owned by Tyler Merwin.  By 1907 the hotel had changed its name to The Blue Mountain House and could accommodate up to 100 guests.  In the middle of the 20th century, ownership passed onto William Wessels who formed the Adirondack Historical Association with Harold Hochschild and others in 1948.  The group engaged the firm of Adams and Woodbridge out of New York City to design their first museum structure and opened the Adirondack Museum in 1957. Sixty years later there were massive expansions to both the physical collections and the collection of buildings at the Museum. 

 

In recent years, leadership rebranded as the Adirondack Experience hired MCWB to assist with a Campus Master Plan.  This effort involved an assessment of all the buildings on Campus, a series of visioning and program meetings with key stake holders, and a series of design proposals with rough order of magnitude costs.  The goals for the new Campus Master Plan include a site for the new Adirondack Art & Design Center, a solution to seasonal housing issues, consolidation of office space, food service location, consolidation of library collections, reassignment of underutilized space, new circulation pathways, implementation of 100% universal access and a 10-year maintenance schedule. 

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Since the completion of the Master Plan, some projects have taken place like plans for the Main Gallery Renovation, Roof Renovations and the completion of ADKX Lita Deck.

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