Walls will fall during gallery's expansion

Syd Entel Galleries and Susan Benjamin Glass are in the same building. Soon they will be connected.

By LEON M. TUCKER

© St. Petersburg Times,
published August 9, 2001

SAFETY HARBOR -- A downtown Safety Harbor art gallery is expanding, combining its canvas art showroom with its glass art showroom.

Syd Entel Galleries and its sister business, Susan Benjamin Glass, are in the same building at 247 Main St. now, but separated by an unoccupied 1,000-square-foot space.

This week, workers started knocking down walls and drilling holes in the floor and ceilings. By Sept. 7, an all-in-one showroom taking up the entire building is to open.

Both galleries are named after the mother and daughter team that also owns the building.

Under the former setup, gallery staffers had to go through the inconvenience of leaving one part of the building to get to the other.

"We got tired of walking over there 20 times a day," said Benjamin, Entel's daughter. "So I didn't see why we couldn't just bust down these walls and connect the two."

Another factor involved the gallery's frame shop, whose operation, Benjamin said, made wasteful use of its storage near the back of the building.

To remedy this, walls will be added to create more efficient storage space, adding floor space for art displays.

Under the new configuration, the total showcase area will cover more than 5,500 square feet.

"I am really excited about this project," said Benjamin. "It is a dream to come true -- to be able to have space to show off quality work."

An angled glass front entrance will also be added to the bend in the L-shaped building to act as a link between the two galleries.

The project is expected to cost about $50,000 to complete.

Syd Entel Galleries opened 21 years ago in another location on Main Street less than a block west from where it is now.

After three years at that location, the current building was built.

Part of the 5,800-square-foot building was leased to other businesses -- most recently to an architectural firm.

The business moved to another location in 1999, and Benjamin opened the glass gallery six months later. There she showcases original hand-made glass art from places like Washington and North Carolina where the craft is most popular.

"We always had glass within our gallery because it is so beautiful and complements the art," Benjamin said. "But I was buying too much of it and it began to overtake the art."

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