San Angelo Museum Leverages Roof Damage to Build New Facility

SAN ANGELO, TX — Facing a major disruption during the reconstruction of its iconic roof, The San Angelo Museum of Fine Arts has embarked upon building an 8,000-sf off-site facility to store delicate pieces of art to be called its Texas Art and Resource Sharing Center.

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On May 21, 2020, during the height of the pandemic shutdowns, aircrews from Laughlin Air Force Base in Del Rio were set to overfly San Angelo as a tribute to the health care workers here. The flyover happened earlier than advertised. The lead pilot in the formation said that the weather forecast was awful, and dangerous. A couple of hours before daylight ended, and after the early formation flew over the city, a horrific hail storm passed over San Angelo. The thousands of roofs destroyed, and resulting insurance claims for over a year afterward, propelled San Angelo's sales tax revenue to new heights, according to Mayor Brenda Gunter.

One roof severely damaged was the iconic "saddle" roof made of copper at the San Angelo Museum of Fine Arts, 1 Love St. The hail compromised the major seam that connects both halfs of the iconic copper roof together, according to Alex Freeman, President and CEO of the museum.

The roof was considered controversial when it was built in 1999 on the new iconic museum. The total cost of building the museum was $7.4 million (about $11 million in 2023 dollars). The roof itself was custom fabricated to the tune of around $250,000. Today, a the roof likely will run into the millions to reproduce. According to the architects, New York- and Los Angeles-based Hardy Holzman Pfeiffer Associates, the roof was designed to resemble not a saddle, but a Conestoga wagon, a long covered wagon used extensively for heavy hauling during the settlement of the American West in the 19th Century. The museum roof, that rises up along the Concho River, received the largest sized and most damaging hail of that storm.

A couple of years of haggling with insurance and engaging appraisers were required to finally receive a large enough settlement to begin repairs. With the roof repairs, contents of the museum need to be stored elsewhere. With that need, some major donors have engaged the museum staff to expand the museum's capabilities to store major works of art.

With that, The San Angelo Museum of Fine Arts is planning the first phase of construction on a new facility to store its entire art collection in the Ralph Chase State Office Building on South Oakes Street while roof repairs are made. Upon completion of the entire project, this state-of-the-art storage, research, and conservation facility will be used collaboratively by the museum and Fort Concho National Historic Landmark.

Made possible by in part through a grant from the San Angelo Health Foundation, the museum will soon begin Phase I of construction of its Texas Art and Resource Sharing Center in the currently unused, 8,000-square-foot space owned by the City of San Angelo and operated by Fort Concho. The museum will make all necessary improvements in return for the use of the space, under a 40-year renewable term, as agreed in a Memorandum of Understanding approved in March by the San Angelo City Council and the Trustees of both the museum and the Fort.

When finished, the space will be accessible to scholars, researchers, and the public. Also, it will serve as a staging ground for loans from the collections of other museums across the state and nation. An onsite conservation laboratory will meet the preservation needs of both institutions and serve as a working space for professional art and artifact conservators.

Phase I of construction will include the installation of fire walls, roll-up doors, insulation, and security. When this phase is completed, SAMFA will store its packed permanent collection – approximately 2,000 art objects -- in the space while the museum’s roof is replaced.

Concurrently, the museum will continue its efforts to raise the remainder of the funds needed for completion of Phases II and III.

In addition to the San Angelo Health Foundation, this project is supported by the FMH Foundation of Midland, the Art and Eva Camuñez Tucker Foundation of San Angelo, the Summerlee Foundation of Dallas, and John and Darlene Williams of Dallas.

Current museum exhibits are on display at the Quartermaster Gallery at Fort Concho, located near the corner of Burgess Street and East Avenue C. SAMFA’s Fort Concho hours are Tuesday through Saturday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sunday, 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. Admission is free.

Expect to see construction crews working on the museum's roof soon. When you do, rest assured that the museum is turning tragedy into opportunity by building this state-of-the-art facility to store delicate works or art off site. When complete, this will add to the museum's capabilities.

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Correction on 4/18/2023 at 8:20 p.m.: The total cost to build the entire building was $7.4 million in 1999. The roof itself cost less than $250,000. We previously reported that the roof itself was $7.4 million. The story has been updated to reflect the correct amounts.