Barnes Board Ordered to Court

September 10th, 2007
By Callen Bair
Conde Nast

Mark Schwartz, the lawyer for the Friends of the Barnes Foundation, a group that opposes the foundation's move from Merion, Pennsylvania to Philadelphia has plenty to say about the Barnes' decision to hire Tod Williams and Billie Tsien as the architects of its new building on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway. We'll get there in a minute — but first and more newsworthy:

Judge Ott, Schwartz said, has ordered the foundation's board of trustees to appear in court on October 5th in response to the petition filed by the Friends at the end of August. (Lee Rosenbaum has the news, too.) The Friends asked Judge Ott to reconsider his ruling that the Barnes could breach its founder's will and relocate to avoid bankruptcy on the grounds that new sources of revenue make it possible for the foundation to stay right where it is. Not long after the petition was filed, Philadelphia mayor John Street signed legislation giving the Barnes a long-term lease for a piece of property on the parkway that is currently occupied by a juvenile detention center.

As for Williams and Tsien, in an e-mail follow-up to our conversation, Schwartz wrote, "Unless this architect specializes in mixed-use prison/art facilities, this building better be put on casters. That detention center hasn't moved in years and it won't any time soon given neighborhood opposition as well as the fact that Michael Nutter, the Democratic shoo-in for Mayor has criticized what has been going on."