The modernist Breuer building, formerly home to the Whitney Museum and purchased by Sotheby’s auction house in 2023, on Tuesday had its interior designated as a landmark by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission.
The designation will protect much of the building from any potentially radical changes that had concerned preservationists as the building undergoes a renovation by the Pritzker-winning architects Herzog & de Meuron. The museum’s galleries were not included as part of the designation.
“We would have preferred the galleries were included in the designation,” said Liz Waytkus, the executive director of Docomomo US, an organization dedicated to preserving modern architecture which filed the request with the Preservation Commission seeking interior landmark status for the Breuer. “But we’ve spoken to Sotheby’s and they have assured us they are treating all gallery surfaces as if they are designated and using a light hand in their restoration.”
The 1966 building by Marcel Breuer has become an important symbol of Brutalist architecture, with its concrete grid ceilings and its inverted stepped pyramid exterior.
The structure most recently housed the Frick Collection and served as an exhibition space for the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s modern and contemporary collection. The renovated building will contain Sotheby’s sales room, as well as exhibition and dining spaces. Work is expected to be completed by this fall.
Herzog & de Meuron — known for projects such as Tate Modern in London, the de Young Museum in San Francisco and the Park Avenue Armory in New York — has made a specialty of adaptive reuse, or transforming existing structures. The firm, based in Basel, Switzerland, is working with PBDW Architects, a New York firm, on the design.
“We fully endorse the landmark designation, as reflected in our initial plans for the building,” said Steve Wrightson, Sotheby’s global head of real estate, in a statement. “We look forward to welcoming the public back and honoring the Breuer’s enduring legacy as we usher in a new chapter.”
Robin Pogrebin, who has been a reporter for The Times for nearly 30 years, covers arts and culture.
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