Sotheby’s Buying Whitney Museum’s Breuer Building, to Use as New Flagship

 By: Ilana Siyance

Sotheby’s auction house has entered a contract to purchase Whitney Museum of American Art’s famed Breuer Building, located at the corner of Madison Avenue and 75th Street.

As reported by the Wall Street Journal, Sotheby’s announced the purchase on Thursday, saying that it will transform it into its new flagship location by 2025.  The iconic Brutalist building, completed in 1966 by Marcel Breuer, was purchased for above $100 million, an auction house executive revealed.  The gray, modernist five-story building will be redone and turned into the auction house’s main showroom and saleroom.  Sotheby’s said it will keep its current space on York Avenue, as well. Whitney had moved out of this space in 2014, relocating its museum to downtown Manhattan at its new Renzo Piano-designed headquarters at 99 Gansevoort St. in the meatpacking district.  The building is currently being leased to the Frick Collection, while that neighboring museum is under construction. It was also previously leased by the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Sotheby’s said it will take over the space in September, which is when Frick will be moving out.

Per the WSJ, Sotheby’s chief executive Charles Stewart said that the auction house couldn’t pass on the opportunity to own a former museum, which will help it to position its sales as being museum-worthy. “We often refer to the provenance of artwork, and in the case of the Breuer, there is no history richer than the museum which has housed the Whitney, Metropolitan and Frick collections,” Mr. Stewart said of the Upper East Side building. The landmark granite building has long been considered the masterpiece of its Hungarian-born Bauhaus designer.

“This is a truly unique opportunity to reimagine an iconic and globally renown architectural landmark in the ideal location,” Stewart said.  Not only will the museum’s prestigious ownership history be a boon for Sotheby’s, but the location as well.  Sotheby’s current location at 1334 York Avenue, where it has been since 1980 at Manhattan’s far eastern edge, is far removed from the city’s cultural center, museums and the likes.  While the current showroom is flanked by hospital buildings, the new location at 945 Madison Avenue, is in a prime gallery and museum neighborhood, just a block away from Central Park.  Also, in a way, the return to Madison Avenue is a sort of homecoming, as the auction house’s first American offices had been located less than two blocks away, at 980 Madison Ave.

Adam Weinberg, Whitney’s director, said in a statement that the transaction was logical, being that Sotheby’s pledged to preserve the building as an architectural masterpiece, allowing the Breuer to “continue to serve an artistic and cultural purpose through the display of artworks and artifacts.”  The building had served as the third home for the Whitney Museum of American Art.

Jean-Luc Berrebi, Sotheby’s chief financial officer, said the purchase is part of the auction house’s broad real-estate reboot. The house said it also plans to open new spaces in Hong Kong and Paris later this year.