Posts Tagged ‘Lake Anne Center’
Posted by The Editorial Desk / Wednesday, September 16th, 2009
The Reston Museum reopens its doors this week after spending eight months revitalizing the space where the town’s history is told
By Chase Johnson
September 16, 2009
Photography by Chase Johnson
The Reston Museum and Shop will reopen its doors this week after closing in January to undergo a much-needed and long-awaited overhaul. The celebration will begin with an invitation-only ribbon cutting event Thursday night before opening to the public Friday.
Eight months ago, the museum was a meager but well-intentioned hole in the wall pocketed in Lake Anne Center. It housed a hodgepodge of historical Reston miscellanea, comprised mainly of attic treasures, photographs and historical documents. Members of the Reston Historical Trust, which operates the museum, presented the story of Reston the New Town as best as they could, but it lacked the cohesion and professional look of a proper museum.
“It was just run on a shoestring,” Lynn Lilienthal, chair of the Reston Historical Trust Board of Trustees, recalls.
For four years, the museum had been cutting through miles of red tape seeking money to pay for a renovation. “The whole space hadn’t been renovated in 45 years,” Lilienthal says. “The air conditioning and the heating, everything needed to be upgraded.”
Finally, with the help of Hunter Mills Representative to the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors Cathy Hudgins, the museum received two grants totaling nearly $250,000—the first from Fairfax County Housing and Community Development Committee and the other from the Fairfax County Office of Community Revitalization and Reinvestment.
The space was gutted and completely redecorated. The room itself is a muted charcoal gray from floor to ceiling, which was done in order to make the colors of the exhibits pop. The museum features 12 exhibition panels that jut out from the walls diagonally. These panels tell the history of the town, and feature photos and artifacts that illustrate the story.
The museum brought back the topographical map of Reston that was donated to the museum when it first opened. “That was always our best thing because people love to look at it and say, ‘There’s my house!’” Lilienthal says. “We’ve upgraded that, and provided two photographs of the Town Center, which wasn’t even on that map because the map stopped [being updated] in 1984.”
Other details dot the walls, including photographs of the town, various proclamations and a golden sledgehammer used to drive in the final spike at the Wiehle Avenue Bridge. Even the bathroom is an exhibit, as the room is filled with signs and posters from Reston events past.
Lilienthal is looking forward to seeing the public’s reaction.
“It’s really the first time that the community is invited in to see it, and we hope that lots of people will come in over the weekend and the following weekends,” Lilienthal says. “Before, we did what we could with very little resources. This tells the story in a very professional way.”
For more information, visit RestonMuseum.org or call 703-709-7700. The museum is located at 1639 Washington Plaza in Reston, and is open from noon to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Friday and Sunday, and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday.
