Archinect - News

Sotheby's purchases Marcel Breuer's Brutalist Whitney for a rumored $100 million

2023-06-01T17:56:00-04:00

Sotheby’s said Thursday that it has purchased the Whitney Museum of American Art’s 1966 Brutalist building by Marcel Breuer on Madison Avenue and will move its headquarters there from York Avenue in 2025. The deal — which Sotheby’s and the Whitney refused to confirm in response to queries from The Times in April — finally resolves the fate of the Breuer building, which has hung in the balance since the Whitney moved down to the meatpacking district in 2015.

The auction house will operate a rotating exhibition space out of the building — in addition to hosting live auctions — beginning in September 2024. There are no plans for the subterranean level restaurant at this time. The Frick Collection, which has been leasing the building since the Met walked away in March of 2020, will officially move back into its $160 million Selldorf Architects-renovated original East 70th Street location in the months prior.

The New York Times reported a source mentioning the deal, which was brokered between the current landlords Whitney Museum and Sotheby's, was worth approximately $100 million. Sotheby's CEO Charles F. Stewart explained to the paper that it was simply a "once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that we couldn’t pass up."

Frick Collection to vacate Marcel Breuer's 945 Madison Avenue building by next year

2023-04-24T17:53:00-04:00

The Frick Collection will vacate its Brutalist temporary home on New York’s Madison Avenue and return to Henry Clay Frick’s historic Fifth Avenue mansion in 2024. [...] The fate of the Breuer building—which was for decades the home of the Whitney Museum of American Art and, following that museum’s relocation to the Meatpacking District, a temporary outpost of the Metropolitan Museum of Art dubbed the Met Breuer—is unknown.

“Our residency at Frick Madison has been rewarding and productive, and we look forward to the remaining months of our time at 945 Madison Avenue, as we continue to gain new insights into our collection by seeing it reframed in this unprecedented way,” the Frick’s director Ian Wardropper said in an announcement.

The museum replaced The Met two years ago following that institution’s own ill-fated five-year run that ended in the spring of 2020. The Frick now expects its return to the original 1 East 70th Street location in March of next year after Selldorf Architects’ contested $160 million refresh. As The Art Newspaper reported, the future tenant (and owner) of 945 Madison currently remains in doubt while its current landlord, the Whitney Museum, looks for answers.

The fate of Marcel Breuer's Frick Madison building could fall into developer hands soon

2021-09-20T19:01:00-04:00

The Breuer building, an architectural icon and the former longtime home of the Whitney Museum of American Art, could soon have a new owner. The Whitney is considering the sale of the building and brokers are compiling lists of potential buyers, according to sources in the art world and real estate. Now the multi-million-dollar question is: If the building is sold, can it be developed?

The brutalist masterpiece know colloquially for its architect Marcel Breuer opened as the new home of the Whitney Museum in 1966. The building exchanged hands in 2015 as the Met expanded past Fifth Avenue for the first time to make room for the collection of billionaire cosmetics heir Leonard A. Lauder.

Previously on Archinect: Frick Collection opens in Marcel Breuer-designed temporary new home, Frick Madison

The Met Breuer’s ill-fared run ended in March of 2020 before reopening in the spring after a pandemic overhaul led by Selldorf Architects. The new Frick Madison will occupy the current site for the remainder of its lease, which runs through the end of next year.

Bohlin Cywinsky Jackson and Eckersley O'Callaghan tapped for Apple's upcoming Madison Avenue store

2014-05-19T14:29:00-04:00

Longtime partners Bohlin Cywinsky Jackson and Eckersley O'Callaghan have been brought in to revamp the 93-year-old former United States Mortgage and Trust Company building at the corner of East 74th Street and Madison Avenue, according to New York City building permits.