It's been called everything from the Bilbao of the Blue Ridge to the Wreck of the Flying Nun, and on Thursday Roanoke's new art museum project will face its first official public test.

The city Architectural Review Board is set to consider requests from the Art Museum of Western Virginia to demolish a century-old downtown building it owns to make way for the new construction. The museum is planned for a site in downtown's historic district, which the review board regulates.

The board plans on giving the art museum requests a major going over at 4 p.m. Thursday at the Noel C. Taylor Municipal Building, according to several members. While the board appears generally receptive to the project, it has concerns about the demolition of the building at 110 Salem Ave. S.E. as well as how the museum project has been handled to this point.

When asked if a denial of the demolition request is possible, board member Bob Richert said, "It's not a sure yes by any means."

Richert and board member Alison Blanton said the art museum planning went on in closed circles for too long and its principal supporters should have engaged review board members more actively months ago. Richert and Blanton said they only found out about the museum's demolition request just days ago.

"I was very much caught off guard," said Blanton, who has a background in historic preservation.

Blanton said she wants details about how the art museum decided it needed to demolish the building that for decades housed Tony's Place restaurant and most recently the Lonesome Dove restaurant. The building topped the Roanoke Valley Preservation Foundation's 2004 list of most endangered sites - a list Blanton helped develop as the foundation's president.

The Art Museum of Western Virginia bought the three-story structure last summer for $300,000, and museum representatives acknowledged at that time that it might be demolished for the new project.

Museum executive director Georganne Bingham said Tuesday that the building doesn't fit into the new museum's plans.

"We need the space in order to add footage to the lobby area and the proposed theater area. It would enlarge the square footage and that's greatly needed," she said.

On complaints about not keeping the board informed, Bingham said plans for that end of the museum have changed rapidly in recent months. An IMAX theater that was long included in the plans was scrapped earlier this year largely because of cost concerns. The former theater area is now tentatively designated as multiuse, flexible space.

"We wanted to have drawings available to the board. That just took some time. We've been trying to keep everybody informed," she said.

The city staff prepares reports on the requests made to the review board. On the museum requests, the staff report outlines a number of standards that the board should consider, including the relationships of the old building and the proposed new one to other adjacent structures. The report concludes that the benefits of the new development outweigh the loss of the old building.

To raze the building, the report recommends that the museum: File a building permit for the new project first; provide professional documentation of the structure for archival purposes; and agree to identify and salvage any significant architectural features.

The city council-appointed review board examines new construction, alterations and demolition of structures located within historic districts in accordance with zoning regulations and adopted architectural design guidelines, and provides architectural and design expertise to council, the city administration and other city entities.

Its decisions can be appealed to the council.

Staff writer Kevin Kittredge contributed to this report.