A water pipe ruptured last night in the Casa del Balboa, a building housing three Balboa Park museums and an art conservation center. The San Diego Reader reported on the leak Tuesday morning.
A spokesman from the San Diego History Center, one of the three museums, said the center’s collections appear to have escaped any damage, “though a complete investigation of the entire collection is under way.” He said building staff are working to figure out why the damage happened and to clean up the mess. The museum’s exhibits are open but its library may be closed this week.
The two others, the Model Railroad Museum and the Museum of Photographic Arts, will be open as usual. The Model Railroad Museum gift shop sustained “minor damage,” according to the History Center statement.
Infrastructure and maintenance of the park’s aging buildings are on a lot of people’s minds as the city prepares to celebrate a centennial in the park in 2015.
“It’s never sexy to talk about the foundations and the water and the sewer,” 2015 celebration co-chair Ben Clay told me recently. “But you know, after 100 years, we have to talk about it.”
I’m Kelly Bennett, reporter for Voice of San Diego. You can reach me directly at kelly.bennett@voiceofsandiego.org or 619.325.0531.
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