Amazing Grace

Blue-state New York may not generally be considered Bible country, but don't tell that to the folks at the American Bible Society. The Museum of Biblical Art, which used to occupy 2,500 square feet on the second floor at the society's Manhattan headquarters, has emerged from major renovations as a 10,800-square-foot gallery occupying the entire ground floor and part of the second.

This five-month makeover, by G&L Architects, retained the footprint of the 1966 building by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill as well as Fox & Fowle Architects's glass pavilion, added in 1994. But principals Randall Goya and Sara Lopergolo did add a 17-foot ceiling upstairs, mahogany-stained ash paneling, and a glass wall toward the rear of the second floor, framing a view of the museum's library of 2,000 rare Bibles.