A few months ago, Ann Evans giggled as she got her first peek at a bamboo floor being laid in what’s now the main gallery at the new Lawrence Arts Center.

“Isn’t this room going to be the most wonderful place?” she asked rhetorically.

The new Lawrence arts center, in the 900 block of New Hampshire Street, is expected to open for classes Monday morning.

She may as well have been talking about the entire building. After more than a decade of stunted expansion plans, the arts center has left its historic home of 27 years for a brand-new facility tailored to its growing needs.

“For a long time, we couldn’t imagine leaving the old building,” said Evans, executive director of the arts center. “And now seeing this building we can hardly wait.”

The offices, studios and galleries have been bustling with set-up activities since the end of March. A week ago, Lawrence city commissioners, major donors and artists got a sneak peek.

Saturday, the public will get its first look inside the three-level, 40,000-square-foot brick, glass and metal structure that’s been under construction in the 900 block of New Hampshire Street for the past 18 months. A gala celebration and fund-raiser begins at 7:30 p.m. A dedication and open house will follow on April 14.

Room to grow

Visitors may be struck by the new center’s stark white walls, mostly concrete floors and cold steel surfaces. But Evans said its “no frills” composition was by design.

“The building is to be the setting for all the art,” she said. “It’s to be an art statement, yet it’s not to compete with any of the art.”

The new building quadruples the center’s former 10,000-square-foot space at the Carnegie library building, 200 W. Ninth St., which it had outgrown years ago. Evans said the extra space would give the center even more room to blossom in the coming years.

The facility, which was designed by Glenn Livingood Penzler Miller architects and erected by Altmar Construction, boasts a 300-seat auditorium with a full-sized stage; new studios for classes in painting, drawing, ceramics, printmaking, jewelry, writing and dance; two arts-based preschool classrooms; exhibition and sales galleries; and offices for staff and community arts groups.

Susan Tate, who helped with fund-raising for the new building, said the finished product provided a great space for the arts.

“It is built for the purpose, whereas the arts center as it’s been for 25 years is a 19th-century Carnegie library that was adapted to be the arts center,” she said. “Not only did it not have the space, but it wasn’t accessible.”

Though arts center staff will run the $7.25 million building, the city will own it. The city contributed $4.25 million to the project. An arts center fund-raising committee has just about raised its $3 million portion of the cost, Evans said.

“We’re still working on raising the last part of the money,” she said.

A tile-painting project generated more than $25,000 and created a colorful art installation for the basement reception area. Community members painted 1,000 ceramic tiles they purchased for $30 each or four for $100.

“We looked at it as a way for everyone in the community to make a contribution to the new arts center building at an affordable price, and as a way for children and grandparents and everyone to indicate how much the new arts center would mean to them,” said Tate, who coordinated the community mosaic project. “In this way, for $30, people can have a permanent memorial to themselves or someone they love inside the building.”

Smooth sailing

Once city and arts center officials decided a few years ago that it would be more cost-effective to build an entirely new facility rather than pay to accommodate an addition to the historic Carnegie building, obstacles melted away, Evans said.

“When we made the decision to come here, it was something like three days before the architect had a preliminary drawing. It was a total go from there,” she said. “It was astounding.”

The only real setback Evans could recall was finding parking for construction vehicles. But that problem was solved when Downtown 2000 project developers allowed crews to park on property north of the new center.

When classes begin Monday at the center, there will be plenty of places for students, artists and parents to park. The city’s new 500-plus-space parking garage, which opened in October across the street from the new building and on most days has more spaces empty than occupied, should see more action as arts center patrons begin to come and go.

Setting the new facility against other arts centers in cities of comparable size, Evans said, is like comparing apples and oranges.

“We have not found a single one that even comes close,” she said.