Ground has been broken on the US$49m (€43.4m, £37.2m) facility expansion of the Peabody Essex Museum (PEM) in Salem, Massachusetts.

Founded in 1799, PEM is the country’s oldest continuously operating museum. Plans originally envisioned a US$200m (€177m, £151.6m) expansion, but were abandoned following the death of the project’s architect Rick Mather in 2013.

New plans based on the original designs of Mather, with subsequent work from Richard Olcott of Ennead Architects, were unveiled last year. According to the new designs, the museum will gain a 40,000sq ft (3,716sq m) wing for galleries and temporary exhibition space, while a new 80,000sq ft (7,432sq m) Collection Stewardship Center will be built off-site.

"Designed to clarify and strengthen the Museum’s current programming, the new wing will enhance the older sections of the museum while providing new gallery spaces dedicated to the presentation of the museum’s extensive collection, creating a new, unified sequence throughout," said Ocolott.

Scheduled to open to the public in 2019, the three-storey development will occupy the northwest corner of the museum complex where the Asian Garden – which will be relocated – currently sits. No existing galleries will be demolished during development and when the new wing opens, gallery space will be increased 15 per cent to 100,000sq ft (9,290sq m), ranking Peabody Essex among the top 20 art museums in the country for size.

The expansion is part of a larger ongoing US$650m (€621mm, £530m) Advancement Campaign – a multi-year model for museum finance, fundraising and operations financed by the museum’s patrons and supporters.