St. Pete · Art Scene · 3 min read
St. Pete's Glass Obsession Runs Deeper Than One Gallery
Inside the Chihuly Collection and the century-old arts group that built the room around it.
September 14, 2026
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The Chihuly Collection at 720 Central Ave is the first permanent installation of Dale Chihuly's glass art built inside a building designed specifically to hold it — architecture and artwork developed together rather than art shoehorned into an existing gallery.
Art and architecture, designed as one project
Architecture firm Alfonso Architects built the 10,000-square-foot exhibition space inside an existing concrete shell downtown, working directly with Chihuly on what they both called the "dreams" — individual environments built to match the theory behind each series of his work. Early in the process, architect and artist discovered a shared appreciation for Italian architect and glass artist Carlo Scarpa, which shaped the materials palette: western red cedar, Venetian plaster, raw steel.
A room built to argue that glass belongs on this list of mediums too.
What's actually inside includes large-scale installations like the Ruby Red Icicle Chandelier, created specifically for the site, plus works from Chihuly's well-known Macchia, Ikebana, Niijima Floats, Persians, and Tumbleweeds series — and a 20-foot sculpture marking the entrance.
The century-old organization behind it
The Chihuly Collection is part of the Morean Arts Center, whose roots go back to 1917, when Margaret Tadd and her daughter Edith Tadd Little founded the Art Club of St. Petersburg — the first organization of its kind on Florida's west coast, inspired by Edith's father J. Liberty Tadd, an art educator. The club started with 28 members and grew to 200 within a few years.
That club eventually merged with the Art Center Association in 1972, became simply "The Arts Center," and later took the Morean name after a donation from Beth Morean allowed it to purchase and connect several properties on the 700 block of Central Avenue — the same stretch where it sits today.
More than one glass address
The Morean umbrella actually spans three sites: the Arts Center at 719 Central Ave, the Chihuly Collection next door at 720 Central Ave, and the Morean Center for Clay at 420 22nd St S, tying the downtown glass scene directly to the ceramics studios in the Warehouse Arts District. Admission to the Chihuly Collection also includes a live glass demonstration at the Morean Glass Studio.
Make the walls move
On a Vivia Art piece, one tap of the shutter plays the artist's own animation right on the real wall. Your free Art Passport saves every piece you find.
