The Lewis Museum, designed by Freelon/RTKL joint-venture, is located on a narrow site near Baltimore’s Inner Harbor. The museum houses a 15,000 square foot permanent exhibit, a multi-purpose auditorium, visiting exhibition gallery, classrooms and educational facilities, a cafe, as well as a museum store, administrative support, and curatorial spaces.

The Lewis Museum is first and foremost a facility representing the character, pride, struggle, and accomplishments of Maryland’s African American people. It begins with a strong commitment to an emotional architectural response, based on a shared vision. There is celebration and disappointment, flight and perseverance, joy and pain. The architecture and exhibits embrace this duality and the desire to express the spirit of a people who continue to be loyal, generous builders of their adopted home. It is about overcoming odds, prevailing against hatred and bigotry and making something out of near nothing. In the end, the museum is as much about today and tomorrow as it is about yesterday.

Photography: James West

JWestProductions.com