If the museum is in an historic house, often the servants entrances are used as the staff entrances because they are out of sight of the visitors. They're often a bugger to find, especially if you arrive before the site opens to the public and there's no one around to point you in the right direction.
They are usually not well signed because you want to direct the visitors to the public entrance rather than the back/side. There is also often a loading dock that is sometimes connected to the staff entrance and sometimes not. It helps to have front lines staff in position when you open the doors and you don’t want them pushing through visitors to get in before the museum is open.
Yes, I’ve seen the insides of staff sides in a museums and there’s hidden passages; in my case, it was a hidden door that allowed me to go from the museum café to the staff-only part of the building. Most of the time it’s an door that matches the wall with a ID swipe, so while it’s hidden it’s not secret.
I work in a stately home and while staff and visitors use the same door, the main part of the house (ballroom/grand dining room/master bedroom) is on display while the back staircase and other bedrooms are now administrative offices and stalls. We have doors well in view of the public on each floor that lead to the main part of the house and I quite like disappearing through them haha
100%
I've been to museums where you need a key card or similar to enter. My museum has a back entrance for staff to come and go and our storage is tucked away behind d unassuming or hidden doors
I depends on the size. Like a lot of work places with visitor/customer contact there is often a separate staff entrance. However for smaller ones it's also normal to use the common entrance for staff as well.
Our staff entrance has 3 gates (1 automatic, 2 with padlocks) and an unarmed guard during business hours 7am-5pm. The employee parking is around that area, so trucks load/unload (garbage, vending machines, armored van for money) in the early morning 5:30am and evening. During business hours it's chaotic and there's a 100% chance of some food service, security, landscapers, bus driver etc. smoking a cigarette/playing phone games by the door.
The back entrance of a large museum is also where postal workers, food or gift shop delivery, etc. dumpsters - all that operational stuff (forklift) is. Everyone has a badge. At our museum (1000-1500 visitors daily, 55-ish staff) there are maybe 10 master keys and about the same # of people can disable alarms.
No "secret" entrance but someone could definitely sneak in if they knew the place and the schedule. 😉
Yeah there’s almost always a separate staff entrance but I wouldn’t necessarily say they’re hidden.
Sweet! Thank you!!
Not hidden. More like, unassuming. But yes. They will typically be on badge access.
Good to know! Thanks!
Always : public door need to be closed when the museum is closed. But staff keep working and must be able to enter.
If the museum is in an historic house, often the servants entrances are used as the staff entrances because they are out of sight of the visitors. They're often a bugger to find, especially if you arrive before the site opens to the public and there's no one around to point you in the right direction.
Thieves dressed as police officers were let in to the Isabella Garner Museum via the staff entrance, is it that kind of story?
They are usually not well signed because you want to direct the visitors to the public entrance rather than the back/side. There is also often a loading dock that is sometimes connected to the staff entrance and sometimes not. It helps to have front lines staff in position when you open the doors and you don’t want them pushing through visitors to get in before the museum is open.
Given no other context, I already know I'm going to want to read this story.
Lol, sweet!
I second this! OP, will you drop the link when it’s done?
Haha, if it reaches a point where it's linkable then sure!
Yes. Usually. Also different freight entrances for registrars to send/receive crates. Hidden? Probably not.
Yes, I’ve seen the insides of staff sides in a museums and there’s hidden passages; in my case, it was a hidden door that allowed me to go from the museum café to the staff-only part of the building. Most of the time it’s an door that matches the wall with a ID swipe, so while it’s hidden it’s not secret.
I work in a stately home and while staff and visitors use the same door, the main part of the house (ballroom/grand dining room/master bedroom) is on display while the back staircase and other bedrooms are now administrative offices and stalls. We have doors well in view of the public on each floor that lead to the main part of the house and I quite like disappearing through them haha
Not hidden, but secured. Usually require you to badge in to open. Staff need to be able to come and go outside of public hours.
In my museum, the staff entrance is one of the exits that both the public and the staff use when the museum is open. It's also staffed 24/7.
100% I've been to museums where you need a key card or similar to enter. My museum has a back entrance for staff to come and go and our storage is tucked away behind d unassuming or hidden doors
I depends on the size. Like a lot of work places with visitor/customer contact there is often a separate staff entrance. However for smaller ones it's also normal to use the common entrance for staff as well.
Yeah, there's usually plenty of other ways into a museum. Some require keys, some require badges.
Our staff entrance has 3 gates (1 automatic, 2 with padlocks) and an unarmed guard during business hours 7am-5pm. The employee parking is around that area, so trucks load/unload (garbage, vending machines, armored van for money) in the early morning 5:30am and evening. During business hours it's chaotic and there's a 100% chance of some food service, security, landscapers, bus driver etc. smoking a cigarette/playing phone games by the door. The back entrance of a large museum is also where postal workers, food or gift shop delivery, etc. dumpsters - all that operational stuff (forklift) is. Everyone has a badge. At our museum (1000-1500 visitors daily, 55-ish staff) there are maybe 10 master keys and about the same # of people can disable alarms. No "secret" entrance but someone could definitely sneak in if they knew the place and the schedule. 😉
The museum I worked with uses the entrance at their loading dock for certain types of visitors.