Mizzou North is home to an eclectic assortment. Statues of Greek and Roman gods, a trendy café and hundreds of employees have settled into their new address on Business Loop 70.
The move of the employees and two museums to Mizzou North was due to Renew Mizzou, a project involving safety improvements to Jesse Hall, renovation of Swallow Hall and the decommissioning of Pickard Hall. This year, about 10 units moved to Mizzou North, along with the Museum of Anthropology and the Museum of Art and Archaeology.
Mizzou North is the former building of the Ellis Fischel Cancer Center, which opened a new facility at University Hospital in February 2013. Of the museums, only the art and archaeology’s Cast Gallery is open. Plans are to open all exhibits of both museums in coming months.
Cast Gallery
On a recent day, there was overwhelming silence in Mizzou North’s lobby. The only hints of the building’s new occupation were glimpses of white plaster casts in the former hospital waiting room east of the lobby. The Cast Gallery is filled with more than 50 Greek and Roman gods and goddesses from Aphrodite to Zeus. Nike, the winged goddess of victory (not the sneaker), stood headless with wings outstretched among a whitewash of other statues. The original Nike of Samothrace is currently on display in the Louvre in Paris.
Just around the corner from the Cast Gallery was the Museum Store, which opened one year ago. Among the items for purchase were shiny replicas of Paris Street Brooches from the Art Institute of Chicago. Hanging on the store’s back wall were handbags with stainless steel handles. On the belly of the bags were representations of museum artwork and displays.
Café 115 opened in mid-August. Photo by Rob Hill.
Café 115
The lobby’s tiles turn to gray slate where the hospital’s restaurant used to be.
The area has been transformed into a trendy bistro. The restaurant was gutted in February 2014, and Café 115 opened to the public in mid-August.
Across from the café’s bountiful salad bar, the day’s specials were written on a blackboard: monkey bread, garden vegetable soup, Greek-style chicken, orzo with zucchini and squash, pastrami with apple coleslaw, and a BLT.
Sous-chef William Provencher said Café 115 has quite a few regulars these days. Popular items are the monkey bread, biscuits and muffins made by Tere'sa Davis, the café’s in-house baker.
“Everybody rants and raves about her desserts,” Provencher said.
Provencher said they adjusted prices and portion sizes earlier in the semester after receiving some input from guests. “We really get to know our customers and can cater to them,” Provencher said. “Fine-tuning the menu gives us a chance to be personal.”
Museums
The Museum of Anthropology and the Museum of Art and Archaeology minus Cast Gallery will occupy the second floor. The museums will be more connected than they were on campus, where they were in separate buildings. “There is more communication with the other museum now,” said Candy Sall, curator of the Museum of Anthropology. “They were only a building over before, but now they are just down the hall.”
The anthropology museum, currently under construction with no set opening date, will include new exhibits like the Grayson Archer Collection, which has 5,300 pieces and is currently housed at the Museum Support Center on Rock Quarry Road.
“It’s an exciting time to be here,” Sall said.
Alex Barker said that the Museum of Art and Archaeology might open as early as January. Right now the museum is concrete and wires, but most of the collections have been successfully moved into Mizzou North storage, said Barker, the museum’s director.
The museum’s rough construction was completed this month. Staff soon will start setting up displays. “It’s a delicate process,” Barker said. “We can’t immediately move in the artifacts after construction is complete because paint fumes and other gases could damage the collections.”
“We are looking forward to being open again,” Barker said. “For a museum, the public is crucial. When a museum isn’t open, it’s not fulfilling its duty.”
— Alaina Lancaster