After almost 15 years in Salt Lake City, The Leonardo museum has announced that it is permanently closing.
In a statement posted on the museum’s webpage, the institution said its decision comes after years of challenges from its 61-year-old building.
“Critical infrastructure necessary for The Leonardo to operate, including the escalators, elevators, and plumbing, has reached the end of its serviceable life,” the statement reads.
“Despite efforts with the city and dedicated vendors, these issues could not be overcome,” it continued, without citing more specific detail.
Museum to become office space
(Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune) Patrons explore an immersive art exhibit at The Leonardo in 2021 that featured a variety of artists and time periods, projected on the walls and floor.
The city owns The Leonardo building, and in a statement, city spokesperson Andrew Wittenberg said it will largely be used for administrative offices moving forward.
He noted officials are committed to ensuring a cultural presence on the ground floor and are looking for future tenants.
The science and art museum in June first sent an announcement to patrons that it was closing for repairs for the foreseeable future.
Lisa Davis, who chairs The Leonardo’s board, wrote in an email at the time that malfunctioning elevators, for instance, made for limited access to exhibits and programs, making it difficult for the museum to generate revenue from events.
Wittenberg said the city has supported the museum since its 2011 opening and is sad to see it permanently close.
Over the years, Wittenberg said, the city has let the museum lease the building for $1 a month, issued the museum a low-interest loan and assisted with utility and maintenance issues.
The city was told about the museum’s decision to close in recent weeks, he added. Officials are now looking to amend the city’s lease with The Leonardo in order to perform necessary maintenance by the end of the year.
Wittenberg noted Ken Sanders’ Rare Books, which sits inside The Leonardo building and remained open during the museum’s initial extended closure, will be able to continue operating.
Sanders is celebrating 50 years of bookselling on Sunday at Fisher Brewing. His bookstore opened in The Leonardo in 2023 and before that operated at 268 S. 200 East, a couple of blocks north of Library Square.
Ken Sanders weighs in
(Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune) Ken Sanders in the Children's Reading Room of his' bookstore at The Leonardo in Salt Lake City, on Tuesday, Sept. 6, 2022.
Sanders told The Salt Lake Tribune on Thursday that his bookstore remains open but he isn’t sure its future will remain in The Leonardo building.
He said he wasn’t notified of the museum’s permanent closure. But he noted signs of its demise were clear to him back in June, when it initially shut down for repairs.
He’s since seen a drop in foot traffic, which he said has hurt his business. And he said city-held events, which have prompted street closures and blocked off parking spaces for several weekends, have made it harder for him to operate.
“My fate is in the hands of the city,” he said. “They’re playing nice, but I just don’t know.”
Speaking to Sanders’ concerns, Wittenberg said several long-running festivals take place each summer at Library and Washington squares, which border The Leonardo building. During these events, he said, Library Square’s underground parking lot and separate parking stalls on 500 South remain accessible.
“The city will continue to work in partnership with Ken Sanders to address concerns,” he said.
Sanders said he will miss his museum neighbors and remains unsettled by the unknown.
“I can’t keep this level up at my age,” he said. “What I’d really like is to find somebody that would come in here and buy me out.”
Financial woes preceded museum’s opening
The Leonardo first opened in October 2011, years later than initially planned because of several financial setbacks, The Salt Lake Tribune reported at the time.
In 2007, former Salt Lake City Mayor Ralph Becker temporarily denied the museum a $10.2 million bond approved by voters, The Tribune reported, though the funds were eventually released after museum management changes left Becker feeling more confident in its financial future.
Still, even before it opened its doors, the museum had to ask for a loan from the city because of construction delays that pushed back its opening date by months.
Despite the financial woes, the museum’s former executive director, Peter Giles, said at the time that he thought the institution could stay afloat.
“You have to experience it. There isn’t anything quite like this,” he said the week of the museum’s opening. “The Leonardo has the opportunity of being something unique on the world stage.”
The museum has hosted a variety of exhibits over the years that sat at the crossroads of science, music and technology, including a master violin maker teaching the math and science behind creating a viola; artificial and natural mummies on display; a mural from longtime Tribune cartoonist Pat Bagley; and work from members of the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe.
In its closing announcement, the museum encouraged “all who have been inspired by The Leonardo to continue fostering creativity, curiosity, and innovation in Utah and beyond.”