Photograph by Lance Adkins
Despite holding a prominent place in the gallery, Camel Collection at 21c Museum Hotel did not start as an art piece. There are approximately 600 camels in the display. “Prior to being a 21c Museum Hotel, the property was an apartment building,” says 21c Museum Manager Michael Hurst. “The collection was started by the former building manager of the Metropole Apartments.” When 21c Museum Hotels founder Steve Wilson bought the building and laid eyes on the collection in the manager’s office, he knew he had to keep it, buying it in full.
Even though there are 600 camels on display, they make up just a third of the original set with the other 1,400 in 21c’s art storage in Louisville. Camel Collection requires upkeep like any other art piece, so every six months each object is removed from the case and individually dusted with a special brush. Despite the difficult maintenance, 21c considers the collection an integral part of the hotel’s identity. “You look past them and see the tile floor from 1912,” says Hurst. “So the camels act almost as an entry point to a conceptual timeline of our building’s history.”
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