Preservation groups are seeking a landmark designation for the former Whitney Museum of American Art building bought by the auction house Sotheby’s for its new headquarters.
The Whitney Museum inked a deal with the auction house to sell its iconic building at 945 Madison Avenue, designed by the Modernist architect Marcel Breuer and his partner Hamilton P. Smith completed in 1966, for more than $100 million in 2023. The auction house has retained Herzog and de Meuron to renovate its interior.
After the Whitney Museum moved to the Meatpacking District in 2015, it leased the building to the Metropolitan Museum of Art to house its Met Breuer branch until it decided to discontinue its lease around 2020. The building then housed the Frick Collection as the Frick Mansion on Fifth Avenue underwent renovations. The Frick vacated the premises in March 2024.
The facade of Frick Madison. Photo by Joseph Coscia Jr.. Photo courtesy The Frick.
Now, with the Breuer Building, as it is popularly called, set to transform from a museum to an auction house, architectural preservation groups like Docomomo fear its interior could become “permanently and unsympathetically altered.” The building is already within the Upper East Side Historic District, so any changes to its exterior already require approval by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission.
The fight for the landmark designation began soon after the sale was announced in 2023 when Docomomo submitted a 45-page request for evaluation to the LPC on December 21, 2023, requesting its designation as an individual landmark, or at the very least, as an interior landmark as defined by New York City authorities.
Thomas Collins, writing in Docomomo’s request for evaluation, praised the building for its “civic-oriented monumentality” and structural engineering that allowed for large, virtually column-less open-floor plans inside the inverted ziggurat edifice with some 30,000 square feet of gallery space.
“Within the interior spaces, Marcel Breuer’s deep affinity for natural materials becomes apparent. Granite, natural wood, and a virtuoso handling of concrete surfaces predominate, reflecting his penchant for contrasting textures,” Collins wrote. “The meticulous juxtaposition of polished granite with roughhewn stone, or the interplay between gleaming metal trim and the warm tones of wood, showcases Breuer’s astute attention to materiality in an approach he described as direct and emotive.”
The Met Breuer. Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images.
The document includes anecdotal quotes from art critics over the years that even included high praise for the craftsmanship of its staircase in the Washington Post and the Los Angeles Times after its 1966 opening.
“As the stairwell is one of the great architectural problems, Breuer’s is one of the great solutions,” Michael Sorkin wrote in the Village Voice in 1985. “On each floor, the sequence begins with an orienting curved wall that sets up the experience in terms of direction, materials, and lighting. Then comes the stair itself, both complexly figured and perfectly, restfully modulated.”
Since 2023, six more groups have submitted letters supporting Docomomo’s request for review. Those groups include the Friends of the Upper East Side Historic Districts, Historic Districts Council, Municipal Art Society, New York Landmarks Conservancy, Preservation League of New York State, and the Society of Architectural Historians.
The preservation groups have also received the support of Community Board 8 Manhattan, whose Upper East Side territory includes 945 Madison. The community board voted approved a resolution in November that encourages the LPC to preserve the Breuer Building’s interiors.
The LPC considered taking the first steps to grant the building landmark status in December, according to a briefing document published by the commission. It was not immediately clear whether the commission successfully voted to “calendar” the issue, adding it to its schedule for further debate and consideration.
“We are honored to acquire and write the next chapter of such an iconic and well-known New York architectural landmark,” Charles Stewart, Sotheby’s chief executive officer, said in a statement in 2023 after the building purchase was announced
Sotheby’s did not immediately return a request for comment about the landmark preservation campaign by press time.