Gilcrease Museum

The Gilcrease Museum in Tulsa, Oklahoma, is named after Thomas Gilcrease, who built the fine art and American history museum in 1940. First opened to the public nine years later, the museum’s collection includes over 350,000 objects, including a major collection of American West art and objects. Work is currently underway to transform the museum. The original building was demolished, with a new state-of-the-art facility being built in its place. The project team includes architects SmithGroup, 1 Architecture and exhibit designer Gallagher & Associates. The project, originally estimated at $75 million, aims to improve the museum’s design to create a visitor-friendly space that’s easy to navigate. The new facility will provide increased gallery space to showcase more of the Gilcrease collection, accommodate exciting travelling exhibitions, and ensure the preservation of the museum’s invaluable art, artifacts and documents, with fresh landscaping around the museum and an amphitheater on its northern side. Inside, the museum’s focal point will be a floating staircase in the middle of the building, leading to areas that are organized but not sequential, allowing visitors to start at different places. The old museum building closed its doors in 2021, and in May the following year, the project celebrated its official groundbreaking ceremony for the new facility. However, with the work beginning amid post-COVID inflation and supply chain issues, the budget and timeline have both increased significantly. With funds coming from both government support and private donations, the project’s total budget has now risen to $140.9 million – more than 70% higher than its original budget. Construction on the building itself. was completed in late 2024, but further delays were due to the fabrication of exhibit fixtures and concerns over climate-proofing the building. In April 2026, it was confirmed that the opening has been pushed back to spring 2027. (Updated 21 April 2026)