Newsday (Suffolk Edition) from Melville, New York • 89

coverstory wwwnewsdaycomentertainment BY ARIELLA BUDICK AND JUSTIN STAFF WRITERS With a block party to end all block parties the Brooklyn Museum this weekend shows off its friendly new entrance its stoop The Brooklyn Museum has burst exuberantly out of its limestone shell cascading in ripples of glass toward Eastern Parkway Ever since Arnold Lehman took over as its director in 1997 the restless populist museum has seemed constrained by its austere Beaux Arts his grassroots opponents can ever work out their differences a basketball arena designed by Frank Gehry might rise on Atlantic Avenue One revamping failed This the first time the Brooklyn Museum has tried to revamp its image In 1934 the grand staircase from the sidewalk to the third-floor lobby was dismantled bringing the entrance down to street level This early attempt at populism was a dismal failure "The plaza was a deadly Polshek said in a phone tended to be six times larger than it is McKim Mead grandiose master plan for it was truncated by the 1898 merger between the cities of Brooklyn and New York which siphoned ambitions and funds to the other side of the East River While the current structure any bigger its new face represents not just an institutional rebirth but also a fullblown Brooklyn Renaissance A cultural district is gradually coalescing around the Brooklyn Academy of Music and if developer Bruce Ratner and DAVIDSON the Lehman said "We want people to come here and feel that they share a more inviting personal No ivory tower anti-ivory-tower approach is tempered by the elegance and poise of the new entrance designed by a team led by James Polshek that negotiates the passage between 19th century classicism and the theatrical aspirations of the 21st century museum world Polshek's firm has a resume larded with additions to New York City cultural landmarks the Rose Center planetarium at the American Museum of Natural History Zankel Hall the new auditorium underneath Carnegie Hall and the Manhattan Theatre renovated Biltmore Theatre on' Broadway Few architects understand better how to translate the venerable into the spectacular When the Brooklyn Museum was designed in 1899 it was in- NOW ON NEWSDAYCOM To see photos of the Brooklyn Museum of Art's new look go to wwwnewsdayconVentertainment container Now where five heavy bronze doors once allowed grudging access a new transparent entranceway beck-'ns to the neighborhood and ti world beyond want this to be the most visitor-centered visitor-welcoming museum in the said an effervescent Lehman want that to take a tangible form" Bustling around the site a few days before construction workers decamped a hard hat wobbling above his brow the director speed-talked about what $63 million had bought a glass-enclosed lobby surmounted by a public catwalk a grassy outdoor plaza for sunning and schmoozing a terraced boardwalk that he calls front and a Vegas-style fountain with computer-con-trolled jets of water that dance to a silent beat The whole thing opens tonight with a members-only soiree followed by a weekend-long block party with free admission extended hours marching bands dancers and a host of free performances The fairgrounds-style festival is in keeping with the intensely local mission love having tourists but our first obligation is to NEWSDAY FRIDAY APRIL 16 2004 wwwjwwsdaycom NtWSOAY PHOTOS IIU DAVlS top will be unveiled tomorrow new lobby to the plaza outside THE BROOKLYN MUSEUM'S new gossamer-light glass entrance as part of a weeklong block party -Above) aNfewrirom inside the.