From Whitney to Met to Frick to Sotheby's
Herzog & de Meuron to Renovate Marcel Breuer's Whitney Building for Sotheby’s
John Hill
5. november 2024
As the Met Breuer in 2019 (Photo: John Hill/World-Architects)
Sotheby's has announced its completion of the purchase of 945 Madison Avenue, the former Whitney Museum of American Art designed by Marcel Breuer in 1966, and the hiring of Herzog & de Meuron to lead the renovation of the building into the auction house's global headquarters.
Yesterday's announcement arrived a year and a half after it was revealed that the Whitney Museum of American Art would be selling its landmark Marcel Breuer-designed building on Manhattan's Upper East Side to auction house Sotheby's. Although the Whitney left for the Meatpacking District in 2015, after its new Renzo Piano-designed building was completed, it maintained ownership of the brutalist Breuer building, leasing it out first to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, who used it as the Met Breuer to display exhibitions of modern and contemporary art, and then to the Frick Collection while its nearby UES home was renovated.
Even though the Breuer Whitney sits in a historical district, making it difficult to make changes to the building's exterior, last year's news of the building sale sparked concerns from preservationists over the future of the non-protected interiors. The appointment of Herzog & de Meuron, who tastefully restored the nearby Park Avenue Armory and more recently transformed a power station in Brooklyn into Powerhouse Arts, makes the prospect of a sensitive renovation of Breuer's interiors seem likely.
The “moat” at the basement level when the building was being used as the Frick Madison (Photo: John Hill/World-Architects)
“The Breuer Building is an amazing architectural icon of postwar modernism which we—like all architects — have always admired. Since our early work in the 1970s, we have always placed great importance on working with existing buildings, not only from a sustainability perspective but also as a conscious engagement with structures from another era that need to be prepared for the future – catering to different users and programs. This engagement becomes more and more relevant for any existing structure anywhere in the world, but even more so for cultural landmarks. ¶ Similar to our work on the Park Avenue Armory project, we will be approaching the Breuer project with excitement and with respect for its original vision. By reviving lost spaces, carefully inserting new ones and making other subtle interventions with a considered palette of materials, the building will be prepared for its new role in the auction world—and will also be more accessible again for visitors and the people of New York.”
A gallery during the Met's Siah Armajani: Follow This Line exhibition in 2019 (Photo: John Hill/World-Architects)
Herzog & de Meuron will be working with PBDW Architects, who also served as architect of record on Powerhouse Arts. Work is expected to start in early next year and be completed in fall 2025.