The City of New York is considering granting landmark status to parts of the Breuer building’s interior—including most of the first floor and the main staircase—which could affect Sotheby’s renovation plans for its newly acquired Manhattan headquarters.
The city’s Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) voted in December to add a public hearing on the issue to its calendar, marking the first step in the landmarking process. The hearing has not yet been scheduled but is expected to take place within the next few months. The exterior of the brutalist building has been a designated landmark since 1981 as part of the Upper East Side Historic District.
In a statement responding to the LPC’s recent move, Sotheby’s said: “As a leading destination for art and culture, we deeply respect the architectural significance of the Breuer building and remain committed to preserving its legacy and working collaboratively with all stakeholders involved.”
The Breuer building at 945 Madison Avenue, former home of the Whitney Museum of American Art, was designed by the architect Marcel Breuer and completed in 1966. After the Whitney moved to its new Renzo Piano-designed building in 2014, the Breuer served as a satellite of the Metropolitan Museum of Art for a few years and later hosted works from the Frick Collection while the latter’s Beaux Arts mansion underwent major renovations. Sotheby’s finalised its purchase of the Breuer in November 2024; the auction house hired the architecture firm Herzog & de Meuron to lead its renovation, which it expects to be completed in autumn 2025.
In a press release announcing that the Breuer had officially changed hands, Sotheby’s highlighted Herzog & de Meuron’s history of renovating historic buildings like London’s Tate Modern and the Park Avenue Armory in New York. “The project will perfectly balance innovation and preservation,” the auction house stated of its plans for the Breuer’s interior, “ensuring that Sotheby’s new location continues to be a celebrated architectural masterpiece.”
Charles F. Stewart, Sotheby’s chief executive, further noted that the Breuer renovation would proceed with “the same level of care and respect that we would give to a great work of art”.
Calls to designate parts of the Breuer’s interior as a landmark began in 2023, after Sotheby’s intent to purchase the building was first announced. In December of that year, Docomomo—a non-profit devoted to the study and protection of Modernist architecture—filed a 45-page document highlighting the importance of the Breuer’s interior and requesting that the LPC consider granting it landmark status. Several more historic-preservation groups and the local community board subsequently joined the call.
Landmark designation for the interior of buildings is rare, with only 123 recognised in New York City—one of which is the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum. Should parts of the interior of the Breuer be declared a landmark, alterations to those sections would need to be approved by the LPC. Parts of the building nominated for landmark status include a slice of the lower-level event space, the main staircase and the first floor’s vestibule, lobby and coat check; the upper storeys would not be affected save for the stairwell. Sotheby’s already promised to preserve the artist Charles Simonds’s beloved site-specific stairway installations.
