Preservation through Replication: The Barnes Foundation

In 2007 Tod Williams and Billie Tsien architects were awarded the commission for the Barnes Foundation in Philadelphia. A primary requirement of the project was to replicate the layout of the galleries of the original Paul Philippe Cret (1876–1945) building in the Philadelphia suburb of Merion, in which the priceless art collection of Dr. Alfred C. Barnes had been housed since 1922. Barnes’s Trust Indenture had specified that his paintings remain “in exactly the same places,” but the court permitted the move under “doctrine of deviation,” provided that the galleries and painting “ensembles” were replicated. The essay explores how Williams and Tsien replicate but also deviate from the Cret original, and situates the project within the history of museum “period” rooms, as well as the current fascination with architectural replication. Ultimately the author argues that Williams and Tsien’s replica of the Merion Barnes not only enables its preservation, it also “adds” originality to its predecessor and challenges the boundary between invention and imitation through an original reproduction.