BURBANK : Museum Closed for Renovation

The Gordon R. Howard Museum has closed its doors for a renovation that will include a special touch from Warners Bros.

The museum, a collection on the history of Burbank, closed Sunday and will reopen with a new addition in July, said Mary Jane Strickland, a member of the board of directors of the Burbank Historical Society.

A Warners Bros. space designer, along with studio set designers, have been drawing up the plans for new displays to be included in a 3,600-square-foot expansion, Strickland said.

The money to build the addition is coming from a foundation established by pioneering Burbank businessman Ray Sence. One feature will be a statue in bronze and iron of Sence driving a team of 32 mules on a combine, based on a photo taken of him in the early 1900s.

This will be the first major renovation for the museum since it opened about 10 years ago.

“Some of the displays will be upgraded and reworked,” Strickland said. One side of the existing museum includes antique cars, a firetruck and other vehicles from the 1920s and 1930s. The other side of the museum includes displays of Burbank history as well as NBC studios and Lockheed aviation.

The addition is to be built where a canopied walkway now leads from one building to the other.

The construction will also include a meeting room for events such as speakers on Burbank history, Strickland said.