The Wolfsonian-FIU museum has $10 million to expand. It needs Beach voters to approve

When media heir Mitchell “Micky” Wolfson bought the boxy, historic Washington Storage building on South Beach in 1987, he wanted a place to stash and display his idiosyncratic and ever-growing collection of objects.

Then he got ambitious. His idea: a public museum that would use his collection — by then tens of thousands of works of decorative and propaganda art — to illuminate the dawn of the Modern era and its manifestations around the globe. It was a version of London’s famed Victoria and Albert Museum, but in a sun-baked beach town.

Wolfson added two discreetly contemporary stories to the fortress-like storage building decorated in Spanish Baroque detailing — an oddity in a district known for its Art Deco architecture. He named the museum after himself, and eventually gave the whole thing to Florida International University.

Today, the Wolfsonian-FIU is a treasure box, one of the world’s most singular museums — and it’s bursting at the seams. So now it’s looking to expand again.

This time, Miami Beach voters will have to approve.

Wolfsonian and FIU leaders hope to build an addition on two adjoining commercial lots that Wolfson, who still serves on the museum’s advisory board, previously purchased for an eventual expansion. Wolfson donated the lots, occupied by one-story storefronts just to the north of the museum building, to the university’s foundation.

To build, the Wolfsonian needs an increase in the allowed density under current zoning rules. By Miami Beach ordinance, that change must go to a citywide referendum.

After the city’s planning and land-use boards and the city commission unanimously approved the Wolfsonian’s application, the proposed change in the allowable floor-to-area ratio (from 1.5 to 3.25) will be on the Nov. 3 ballot.

Museum officials say the change would allow the Wolfsonian to grow its footprint and significantly expand its limited exhibition space. It would also improve public access and the museum’s visibility on Washington Avenue, a frayed street that’s undergoing extensive revitalization and redevelopment.

The museum’s conceptual plan for the expansion, drawn up by Zyscovich Architects, would push the five-story addition back to the rear of the lots to minimize any impact on Washington Avenue, which sits in the Flamingo Park Historic District, a part of the broader National Historic Register Art Deco District. The two storefronts to the north, listed as contributing structures in the historic district, would be gutted. Their plain facades, decorated with some minimal Deco details, would be saved and restored.

Behind the preserved facades, a public courtyard would serve as the museum’s main entrance, with a new lobby on one side and commercial retail — possibly a restaurant or shops — on the other, said Wolfsonian acting director Casey Steadman. The restaurant would be open after the museum closes, helping invigorate what has been a desolate stretch after dark.

The new entryway would open up the museum’s frontage and provide clearer signage and a more inviting front door, Steadman said. Though the seven-story building has been an anchor on Washington and 10th Street for decades, its somewhat forbidding facade and low-key signage has meant the museum is sometimes overlooked by visitors and locals, he said.

“It was built as a storage building; it was never built to be inviting,” Steadman said. “We see this as an opportunity to create a more welcoming experience and to connect better to the street. It really helps define and provide a demarcation between the hustle and bustle of Washington Avenue and the museum entrance.

“The wonderful thing about the Wolfsonian is that we are known around the world. But we’re on South Beach. This will make it much easier for visitors to discover us, to be a bit more of a destination for visitors and the community.”

Daniel Ciraldo, executive director of the Miami Design Preservation League, said in an email that the organization’s board has not yet taken a position on the Wolfsonian application, but that members of the group have reviewed the plan “and feedback so far has been positive.” Ciraldo noted that the 55-foot height of the proposed addition is lower than the 75-foot cap in the vicinity.

The addition would triple current exhibition space at the Wolfsonian to just over 50,000 square feet. That would allow much more of its vast collection to be shown, Steadman said. The wide-ranging collection comprises posters, paintings, sculptures, furnishings and architectural remnants, and machinery — including an early electrical “dynamo” or industrial generator by Thomas Edison. All date from 1850 to 1950.

Some massive pieces too big to show in the museum’s current galleries could be exhibited for the first time, Steadman said.

One such monumental piece is a 1957 mural by painter Buell Mullen depicting industrial architecture that was commissioned by David Rockefeller for a Chase Manhattan branch in New York. Made with epoxy paint on stainless steel, the mural would be the centerpiece of a contemplated, double-height “Great Hall Gallery” in the new building. The expansive gallery would also double as a space for conferences, presentations, gatherings and film screenings at which attendees would be surrounded by exhibition pieces.

The addition would also include an innovative digital programs space. It would encompass a studio to produce digital images of the Wolfsonian collection and provide working space for its virtual programs, which have been expanding while the museum is shut down by the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We’re moving into a hybrid world,” Steadman said.

The expanded facility would also serve as hub for The Wolfsonian Public Humanities Lab, a new interdisciplinary program that combines the traditional humanities and civic engagement.

It would also incorporate another novel feature: Open or visible storage accessible to visitors, an increasingly popular element in the museum world. The V&A and the Metropolitan Museum in New York have created open viewing, among other leading institutions with vast collections that see it as a way to provide visitors a glimpse of treasures usually hidden away for years.

The Wolfsonian has storage at a nearby facility, but most of the collection is stored at the museum building, Steadman said.

“It helps visitors understand the size and breadth of the collection. At any given time we only have hundreds of objects displayed. We would like to have more of the collection accessible to the public,“ Steadman said. “Sometimes more is more.”

The Wolfsonian is only now embarking on what has been a long-contemplated expansion at the prompting of Miami-Dade County, Steadman said. Voters approved $10 million in funding for a Wolfsonian expansion as part of a massive bond program back in 2004. The county is seeking to close out the program, and asked the museum and FIU to develop a plan to spend the allocated money by the end of this year, Miami-Dade cultural affairs director Michael Spring said.

“It’s a really good plan. What the Wolfsonian has come up with is really well-thought-through and logical,” Spring said. “It makes great sense in providing greater access to those unbelievable items in that collection. We’re very impressed. This would be a major move forward for the Wolfsonian.”

No cost estimates have been worked out, but the museum would likely need to raise some money above the $10 million provided by taxpayers to cover the project budget, Steadman said.

If approved, it would be the third expansion of the historic building, which opened in 1927 as a two-story storage facility where winter Miami Beach residents could store fur coats, furniture and even automobiles. Demand was so high, even amid the Great Depression, that two stories were added in 1936, designed by noted Miami architect Robert Little. The most recent expansion — the two-story addition and museum conversion — was designed by the late Mark Hampton and his interior-design partner, Billy Kearns, in 1993.

The Wolfsonian continues to add to its collection through donations and acquisitions, Steadman said. Recent additions include a collection of 300 Depression-era glass pieces donated by Miami historian Arva Moore Parks, who died in May. Wolfsonian board member Vicky Gold Levi has pledged a trove of works by influential early 20th Century Cuban graphic artist Conrado W. Massaguer as well as caricatures by other Cuban and Mexican artists.

If the referendum goes the Wolfsonian’s way, the Beach commission would hold a second hearing and vote on the zoning changes in December. The museum would also have to go through a county approval process. After that would come detailed building designs and approvals by the city, including review by the historic preservation board.

Expansion would not require closing the museum, Steadman said. There is no timeline yet for construction.