St. Pete To Open 1st Museum Dedicated To American Arts And Crafts

ST. PETERSBURG, FL — With the installation of copper sheeting, granite panels and stories-high glass windows, the final stage of construction on the Museum of the American Arts and Crafts Museum in downtown St. Petersburg is underway.

The new museum, located on 3.2 acres at 355 4th St. N., is expected to open in early spring 2020.

“Although the initial completion date of the museum has been moved again, we are working diligently to ensure that construction of this complex, multi-phase project wraps up early spring 2020 and we look forward to the grand opening,” said Rudy Ciccarello, president and founder of the MAACM.

"We are anxiously awaiting the opening and are excited to show this iconic museum to local residents and the international arts community,” said Tom Magoulis, executive director of the MAACM.

Ciccarello is funding the bulk of the $90 million museum construction project. The Pinellas County Commission is also kicking in $6 million in bed tax funds over the next three years. The city is providing another $500,000 for streetscape improvements including new sidewalks on 3rd and 4th avenues north, a curb extension at the intersection and landscaping.

“Perfection takes persistence,” said Alberto Alfonso, president of Alfonso Architects of Tampa.

Alfonso said the MAACM is being crafted with careful attention to detail using materials that reflect the artistry of the Arts and Crafts movement which flourished from 1880 to 1920.

In keeping with the objects it will house, the exterior of the 137,000-square-foot museum will feature bronze detailing and granite panels from South America. Inside, the museum will be customized with stone and woods, leaded glass, hand-wrought copper, vintage glazed tiles, Venetian plaster and handmade chandeliers, all reminiscent of the Arts and Crafts movement.

The facility will include an atrium, a circular staircase, 40,000 square feet of gallery space, a retail shop, event space, a 100-seat auditorium, an area for children's education, a graphic arts studio, administrative offices and a 9,000-square-foot destination restaurant and an adjacent 303-space parking garage.

Ciccarello believes the building will be a fitting home for the Two Red Roses Foundation’s collection of more than 2,000 decorative and fine arts pieces from the era.

The MAACM will be the only museum in the world dedicated exclusively to the American Arts and Crafts movement, which sought to revive and elevate handcraft in the wake of the industrial revolution and, in the process, influenced modern design. The museum is expected to attract 150,000 visitors a year.

Originally from Italy, Ciccarello earned a bachelor of arts degree from Boston University and a pharmacy degree from Northeastern University's School of Pharmacy before relocating to Tampa Bay to work for the Eckerd Corp. He later founded Florida Infusion Services of Palm Harbor.

A lover of arts and antiques since his parents took him to auctions and galleries as a child in Italy, Ciccarello spent his weekends exploring antique shops in Florida, and fell in love with furniture, metalwork and pottery of the American Arts and Crafts movement, including the handcrafted oak furniture of Gustav Stickley, the stained glass of Louis Tiffany, the copper metalwork of the Roycroft artisan community and the pottery of companies like Van Briggle, Teco and Newcomb.

As his collection grew, Ciccarello founded the Two Roses Foundation in 2004, a nonprofit educational institution dedicated to the acquisition, restoration, preservation, and public exhibition of important examples of furniture, pottery and tiles, lighting, woodblocks, textiles, photography, architectural faience and fine arts from the American Arts and Crafts Movement.

The name comes from a poem penned by British textile designer and writer William Morris called “Two Red Roses Across the Moon.”

The foundation's collection represents the full range of decorative and fine arts produced by individual artists, craftsmen and companies during the American Arts and Crafts Movement including ceramic tiles, woodblock prints, stained glass, paintings and photographs.

In the past few decades, there's been a resurgence of interest in the America Arts and Crafts Movement with the revitalization of neighborhoods such as Historic Kenwood in St. Petersburg and Old Hyde Park in South Tampa where bungalows featuring craftsman-style architecture are being renovated.

The Two Red Roses Foundation has released two books of its collections:

• Beauty in Common Things: American Arts & Crafts Pottery from the Two Red Roses Foundation - 2nd Edition - 2018 by Martin Eidelberg, Jonathan Clancy, and Kevin Tucker
• Lenses Embracing the Beautiful: Pictorial Photographs from the Two Red Roses Foundation by Christian Peterson

Both are available for purchase on the foundation's website.