2025 SESSION

ENROLLED

HOUSE RESOLUTION NO. 827

Commending the Hermitage Museum and Gardens.

Agreed to by the House of Delegates, February 21, 2025

WHEREAS, the Hermitage Museum and Gardens, a beloved cultural institution in Norfolk, has contributed to the vibrancy of the Hampton Roads art scene for nearly a century; and

WHEREAS, the house at the Hermitage Museum and Gardens was built by William and Florence Sloane, who came to Hampton Roads in 1893 to operate textile mills; initially conceived as a five-room summer house, between 1908 and 1936 the Arts and Crafts style house became the Sloanes' principal residence and grew to contain 42 rooms; and

WHEREAS, William and Florence Sloane were avid art collectors who helped found the Norfolk Museum of Arts and Sciences, now the Chrysler Museum of Art, and who established the Hermitage Foundation in 1937 to promote the arts within the Hampton Roads community; and

WHEREAS, William and Florence Sloane donated the house and its contents, the grounds, and all the outbuildings on the property to the Hermitage Foundation and the museum opened permanently to the public in 1942; and

WHEREAS, today, the Hermitage Museum and Gardens features an extraordinary collection of Asian art, paintings, decorative art, sculpture, and textiles spanning 5,000 years, contemporary exhibition galleries, twelve acres of landscaped gardens and natural woodlands, an educational wetlands area, and the Goode Family Visual Arts School; and

WHEREAS, in 2010, the Hermitage Museum and Gardens launched its Sunsets on the River event, which has since hosted more than 80 concerts and drawn more than 50,000 attendees for delightful evenings of music with friends and family; and

WHEREAS, the Hermitage Museum and Gardens is a member of the prestigious Smithsonian Affiliations program, enhancing the foundation's ability to fulfill its mission; and

WHEREAS, in recognition of its efforts, the Hermitage Museum and Gardens received accreditation from the American Alliance of Museums in October 2017; and

WHEREAS, by upholding the Sloane family legacy for nearly a century, the Hermitage Museum and Gardens has helped to make the Hampton Roads Region a wonderful place to live, work, and appreciate the arts; now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED by the House of Delegates, That the Hermitage Museum and Gardens hereby be commended for its impact on the cultural landscape of the Hampton Roads Region; and, be it

RESOLVED FURTHER, That the Clerk of the House of Delegates prepare a copy of this resolution for presentation to the Hermitage Museum and Gardens as an expression of the House of Delegates' admiration for the museum's contributions to Hampton Roads and the Commonwealth.