A lot of the bottom flooring and decrease stage interiors of Marcel Breuer’s former Whitney Museum of American Artwork constructing at 945 Madison Avenue—which Sotheby’s purchased in 2023 for a reported $100m—has been designated as a landmark by the New York Metropolis Landmarks Preservation Fee (LPC).
The vote to approve landmark designation on 20 Could will shield the constructing’s foyer, coat verify, present store, cafe and different public-facing areas on the bottom and decrease ranges, in addition to its predominant stairwell, from modifications through the public sale home’s renovations, that are being led by the structure agency Herzog & de Meuron.
The previous Whitney “constructing and its distinctive inside are outstanding examples of the Brutalist fashion of contemporary structure and symbolize a robust testomony to New York Metropolis’s function as a worldwide heart of revolutionary design,” Sarah Carroll, the chair of the LPC, mentioned in an announcement.
The constructing’s galleries, which aren’t included within the designation, will come to deal with Sotheby’s new salesroom in addition to public exhibition, personal viewing and eating areas. The constructing’s exterior has been protected since 1981, when it was designated a landmark as a part of the Higher East Aspect Historic District.
The Breuer constructing was accomplished in 1966 and has come to be thought of a shining instance of Brutalist structure in the USA. It was designed by the Hungarian American architect and furnishings designer on the peak of his profession. His expertise within the Bauhaus college helped redefine American aesthetics within the second half of the twentieth century. After the Whitney opened its new Renzo Piano constructing within the Meatpacking District in 2015, the Breuer constructing housed pop-ups of the Metropolitan Museum of Artwork and the Frick Assortment.
The outside of Marcel Breuer’s former Whitney Museum of American Artwork constructing, quickly to be Sotheby’s Manhattan headquarters Courtesy New York Metropolis Landmarks Preservation Fee
“We might have most well-liked the galleries have been included within the designation,” Liz Waytkus, the chief director of Docomomo US—the organisation that filed the landmarking request with the LPC—advised The New York Occasions. “However we’ve spoken to Sotheby’s and so they have assured us they’re treating all gallery surfaces as if they’re designated and utilizing a light-weight hand of their restoration.”
Herzog & de Meuron is greatest recognized for its work on the Tate Fashionable in London and the de Younger Museum in San Francisco. The agency is understood for its philosophy of “adaptive reuse”, a observe of remodeling present buildings whereas retaining their historic options as an alternative of demolishing and rebuilding from the ground-up. The Swiss-based agency is working with PBDW Architects in New York on the Breuer’s design.
“We totally endorse the landmark designation, as mirrored in our preliminary plans for the constructing,” Steve Wrightson, Sotheby’s world head of actual property, mentioned in an announcement. “We sit up for welcoming the general public again and honouring the Breuer’s enduring legacy as we usher in a brand new chapter.”
The public sale home’s renovations are anticipated to be full in time for it to conduct its marquee autumn auctions within the Breuer constructing in November 2025.
