A week ago, we stopped by the Art & History Museums of Maitland (Website) for the community open house celebrating its new Que Throm & Cicero Greathouse Education Studios, the first major physical expansion of the historic Maitland Art Center campus since founder J. André Smith’s lifetime.
Walking the new studios, it’s clear the project was designed to sit alongside the campus’s existing Mayan Revival architecture rather than compete with it. Architect Mark Straite built the complex with that same visual language in mind, while giving the interior spaces a more modern, functional feel suited to teaching. The new buildings include a dedicated ceramics studio, three classrooms, and a gallery displaying work by Que Throm and Cicero Greathouse, alongside pieces made by A&H students and instructors.
The scale of the expansion is easy to underestimate from the outside. Staff on hand said the new space nearly triples the Art School’s instructional capacity, a significant jump for a campus that has operated largely within its original footprint for decades. That added room also frees up the historic Studio Court, which A&H is now restoring to its original purpose as working artist studios, growing the museum’s artist residency program from four studios to seven.
The project traces back more than a decade to a 2015 campus master plan that first proposed expanding into a 1.2-acre parcel on the north and west sides of the property, land that was once part of Smith’s personal orange grove before it was returned to the museum’s lease by the City of Maitland. Funding came through the Estate of Que Throm & Cicero Greathouse, a grant from Orange County Cultural Facilities, and years of capital investment by A&H.
Executive Director Danielle Thomas said the expansion brings Smith’s original vision of a living, evolving artist retreat into the present day, allowing the museum to grow its Art School while restoring the historic Studio Court to working artist studios.
