The parking lot at Spalding House, the museum tucked away in Makiki Heights, has been packed this month as dozens of visitors walk its grounds one last time.

The Honolulu Museum of Art’s campus at 2411 Makiki Heights Dr., featuring galleries of contemporary art, sculpture-filled gardens overlooking Diamond Head, a cafe and gift shop, officially closes at 4 p.m. today.

Following the closure, the staff will be packing away the artwork from the current exhibit on display: “In the House: Recent Acquisitions,” along with sculptures and other pieces, for transport to storage and the main museum on South Beretania Street.

The museum announced over the summer that its board of trustees had decided to put the Spalding House property up for sale in order to focus its resources on its main South Beretania Street campus.

Elite Pacific Properties has listed the 3.4-acre property for $15 million.

Anne Nakasone of San Francisco made it a point to stop by Spalding House on a recent trip to Honolulu, her childhood home, to make a final visit.

“It’s beautiful, but it’s sad,” said Nakasone, while gazing from the terrace over the broad lawn, and a peek of Diamond Head framed by the branches of a large, monkeypod tree. “This is one of the rare places where you could probably see things you probably can’t anywhere else.”

Nakasone spent the day browsing through the galleries, and strolling through the Japanese garden, which she said was one of her favorite parts of the museum, along with the permanent installation of David Hockney’s “L’enfant et les sortileges” (“The Child and the Spells”), a reinterpretation of Ravel opera sets.

The installation will remain in the museum’s collection, but may remain in storage for some time after the closure.

Near the entrance, under the words “With Aloha,” visitors young and old have filled a wall with thoughts and memories in the form of handwritten notes, sketches and photos from the past, along with newspaper article clips, as a reflection of what the museum has meant to them over the decades.

For artists, Spalding House, formerly the Contemporary Museum, was not only a unique, intimate setting to display their art, but a launching pad, a place to experiment, as well as a meeting and gathering place. It was a nexus for dialogue, new ideas and relationships.

Kailua artist Jodi Endicott said the museum will always hold special significance in her heart. She considers it instrumental to her arts career, as well as to many other local artists who got exposure and support through connections fostered there. Because of it, she said, she is a better artist.

In 1996, she installed her thesis exhibit, “Tubers,” at the former tennis court as a graduate art student at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. Three of those pieces — whimsical sculptures of people floating on tubes — now peer at passersby from atop a hill on Civic Center grounds.

“Personally, I could see the sky was the limit here,” said Endicott. “We were unstoppable, and the things that we did .… It was amazing to be here, and to be part of this movement that carried over.”

Painter and ceramicist Lynda Hess remembers it as a place where she met noted artists from around the world, as well as longtime friends, and collectors of art.

It also brings memories of the beginning of her relationship with internationally renowned artist Masami Teraoka, whose works were part of the opening exhibit when the property was converted from a private home to a museum in the late ’80s.

“It’s been intertwined with that relationship for me,” said Hess. “We were always up here for all the events, and taking part in fundraisers .… There was always somebody up here you could talk to, some great art you could see. I made so many friends here. Probably half the people I know I met up here.”

She recalls with sadness the loss of many from the arts community, such as late curator Jay Jensen, that were the heart of the museum.

There were not many places willing to exhibit paintings of nudes, she recalls, but Spalding House was open to it. The cafe also displayed rotating group shows based on a theme in a more casual setting, opening avenues for emerging artists.

Now, as a ceramicist transitioning from two- to three-dimensional works, she is having flashbacks to the repertoire of artists she saw at Spalding House exhibits over the years.

For Honolulu-based contemporary artist Andrew Binkley, the former tennis court, which is referred to as the “surface gallery,” and the monkeypod beside it, hold special memories of his time as the Orvis artist-in- residence. He considered the opportunity a milestone in 2014.

During his months there, he created “A Space Between,” an interactive installation that involved the uncovering of gravel from the court, and the discovery of cracks in the surface.

Binkley remembers greeting guests, and inviting them to paint the cracks gold.

“It was really a beautiful experience,” he said. “For me, personally, being here throughout that time period got me connected with the environment here.”

The large monkeypod tree eventually filled in with leaves, and flowers, which began to fall and turned golden as they fell into the cracks, becoming part of the piece.

“The whole project really was about appreciating how things change, and impermanence, and it was right after the two museums merged together,” said Binkley, “so there was also this financial element, being gold, being a part of it.”

He drew a line from the corner facing Spalding House toward the Beretania Museum, creating a connection between the two museums.

Earlier this week, he stood at the site again, reflecting on the upcoming closure and changes.

“I feel like this project is still living now that this space has changed,” he said.

Honolulu Academy of Arts founder Anna Rice Cooke built Spalding House in 1925 as a residential property, naming it Nu‘umealani, or Heavenly Terrace. She chose architect Hart Wood as the designer. Cooke’s daughter Alice Spalding acquired the property in 1934.

In 1968, the Honolulu Academy of Arts, now known as the Honolulu Museum of Art, acquired the property at the bequest of Spalding. The property was then sold to Honolulu Advertiser Publisher and philanthropist Thurston Twigg-Smith, who lived there several years with his family before donating the property as the Contemporary Museum in 1988.

The Contemporary Museum operated as an independent museum until it returned to the fold of the Honolulu Academy of Arts as a gift in May 2011. At that time the name was changed to Spalding House.

Artists, meanwhile, lament the gap left behind by the loss of Spalding House, and wonder where contemporary artists will gather next, or find the same kind of momentum brought by the museum.

“I’m more sad than ever,” said Endicott. “I’m happy and I feel really privileged that we got this opportunity but I’m very sad for future artists, and for the artists that are working here now.”

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SPALDING HOUSE’S LAST CALL

>> Open 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. today, then closed.

>> Special shuttle picking up guests from Hanahau‘oli School every 30 minutes, starting at 10:45 a.m., with the last run at 3 p.m. today.

>> Spalding House Cafe open 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., limited to dine-in guests.

>> For more information: Visit honolulumuseum.org to learn of other exhibits and programs.