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OF LAS OLAS By Eric Barton

n its half century-plus existence, Fort Lauderdale’s main art museum so special is that people used to think of Fort
Imuseum has always been a Las Olas resident. Lauderdale as barren of good art. The museum has helped
It started humbly, in a small storefront, and has grown to a change that,” Howland says. “When you take people to the
museum with international acclaim. It has hosted exhibits museum, they’re totally blown away when they see what’s
that attract tens of thousands. It lured away a well-known at our museum. They’re not expecting this level.”
curator from a Miami museum. And it has, undoubtedly, Sometimes it takes an out-of-towner to remind us of the
become a big player on the art stage. beauty of the New River or the tranquility of the beach or
Consider the article published in March in the New York that we have a world-class museum right here on Las Olas.
Below, we’ve found five reasons for locals to rediscover the
Times titled “The Museums Times Reporters Like to Visit on
Their Days Off.” The list included facilities you might expect NSU Art Museum Fort Lauderdale.
in cities like Seattle, Baltimore, and Dallas. It also included
Fort Lauderdale. HUMBLE BEGINNINGS
The article gushes that the NSU Art Museum Fort Lauderdale Before growing into an international draw, the museum
“feels like a sanctuary.” It heralded the stark white home to began as a simple Las Olas storefront.
the museum, with a design that allows visitors to marvel at
A former hardware store served as the first home of the
the building itself as much as the art on display.
museum, at 625 E. Las Olas Blvd., most recently the site of
“The galleries flow nicely into one another under a high, Johnny V.’s. The first exhibit was appropriately named
white ceiling like the flat underside of a cloud,” the article “Coming of Age.” Within its first five years, the museum
explained. “One curving wall creates a panoramic display saw upwards of 75,000 visitors to see works from Andy
surface. At an archway mid-museum, you can stand Warhol, Pablo Picasso, and Roy Lichtenstein.
between two galleries, see four or five walls and size up a A fire in 1967 destroyed several priceless pieces of art
dozen paintings and sculptures at once.”
and forced the museum into a new space two blocks west
Michelle Howland, a Fort Lauderdale realtor and museum that was immediately too small. It would take nearly two
board member, says she often takes friends and out-of- decades for the museum to broker a new home at 1 E.
towners to the museum. “One of the things that makes the Las Olas Blvd.

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