The Alexandria Black History Museum closed yesterday (Sunday) for nearly three weeks for interior renovations to ward off mold and water damage.
The city announced the temporary closure, through Aug. 10, in a release on Friday.
This is the second round of upgrades for the museum, which reopened in February 2023 after a three-year closure. Museum leadership took advantage of the forced closure due to the pandemic to undertake renovation work, including refreshed carpet and paint, a new kitchen and accessible bathrooms.
The work also attended to surprise water damage to the basement in the middle of the pandemic that prolonged the closures.
While these new renovations are also related to water, they were already scheduled to be done, according to the city.
The upgrades include coating the walls with Drylok and painting them to “provide a better protective shield against water infiltration and mold,” a city spokeswoman told ALXnow.
The decision to close was “out of an abundance of caution to protect staff and public from breathing in the chemicals being used,” she said.
In addition to the increased mold and water protections, offices will get new ceiling tiles, paint and carpet while the lower-level hallway and stairway will get new linoleum, she said.