Whitney Museum sells old Madison Avenue home to Sotheby’s for $100m: report

· Breaking News · By ReportWire
Whitney Museum sells old Madison Avenue home to Sotheby’s for 0m: report

The Whitney Museum of American Art has sold its old Upper East Side home, the landmarked Breuer Building, to Sotheby’s, it was announced Thursday. The iconic Brutalist building will serve as the auction house’s headquarters starting in 2025.

While an official price was not disclosed, the New York Times cited sources who put the number at about $100 million.

The exterior of 945 Madison Ave. in Manhattan on March 18, 2016, in New York City. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

The boxy structure on Madison Avenue and 75th Street and Madison was completed in 1966 and served as the Whitney’s third home until October 2014 before it opened its current location on Gansevoort Street in the Meatpacking District.

“The iconic Breuer Building will always be a beloved part of the Whitney’s rich history,” the museum’s director, Adam Weinberg, said in a statement. “We are pleased that it will continue to serve an artistic and cultural purpose through the display of artworks and artifacts. Most importantly this architectural masterpiece — thanks to its status in a landmark district — will be preserved.”

The Metropolitan Museum of Art opened The Met Breuer there in 2015 and occupied the space until 2021. The Frick Collection has been there since as the “Frick Madison” while its main home on Fifth Avenue is renovated.

“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,” says Sotheby’s CEO Charles F. Stewart.

The exterior of 945 Madison Ave. in Manhattan on March 18, 2016, in New York City.

The exterior of 945 Madison Ave. in Manhattan on March 18, 2016, in New York City. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

Sotheby’s will take possession of the Breuer in September of next year and plans to relocate their flagship galleries and auction room there. The multinational company also will retain ownership of its current York Avenue headquarters.

The Breuer’s future had been the source of speculation for the past two years, but the buzz kicked into high gear earlier this year, with Artnet reporting the Whitney was in talks with multiple possible buyers.

Jacqueline Kennedy and Robert W. Sarnoff (R), president of the National Broadcasting Company, look at a sketch Oct. 21, 1965, of the Whitney Museum of American Art. Holding the drawing is the architect, Marcel Breuer, who conducted Mrs. Kennedy on a tour of the museum now, under construction at the time.

Jacqueline Kennedy and Robert W. Sarnoff (R), president of the National Broadcasting Company, look at a sketch Oct. 21, 1965, of the Whitney Museum of American Art. Holding the drawing is the architect, Marcel Breuer, who conducted Mrs. Kennedy on a tour of the museum now, under construction at the time. (Bettmann/Bettmann Archive)

Weinberg, who will step down in October after 20 years with the Whitney, said selling the Breuer made sense but that it was still “bittersweet” given the decades of history.

“For us it became clear it did not really make sense to have a divided Whitney — how do you divide it?” he told the Times. “Also, we don’t want to be landlords.”

Téa Kvetenadze

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