Breuer Building (945 Madison Avenue)
945 Madison Avenue | Upper East Side | built 1966
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The city photographed every building for its tax records around 1940 and again in the 1980s. NYC Municipal Archives.
Written with AI from the source each entry cites, then fact-checked.
- 1961
The Whitney Museum picks Marcel Breuer to design its new building
Searching since 1958 for a home three times the size of its cramped West 54th Street quarters, the Whitney Museum's board chose Hungarian-American architect Marcel Breuer in 1961. His granite-clad, inverted-ziggurat design broke ground on Madison Avenue in October 1964 and opened in September 1966.
Source: Wikipedia
- 1963
The Whitney buys a corner lot where six rowhouses stood, left empty by a failed apartment plan
In 1963 the Whitney acquired the lot at the corner of Madison Avenue and 75th Street, where six 1880s rowhouses had stood. Their owner, the developer and art collector Ian Woodner, had demolished them after filing plans in 1960 for a 16-story apartment building with stores. When that project stalled, the lot was sold. The museum announced the purchase in June 1963, partly because the site sat roughly midway between the Guggenheim, the Met, MoMA and the Jewish Museum.
Source: Wikipedia
- 1966
Critics split over Breuer's new Whitney, from a Time cliffhanger to a National Review rebellion
The press reaction to the new building was mixed. Time titled its piece "Cliffhanger on Madison Avenue," Life called the concrete lobby walls severe, and a National Review critic described the $4 million structure as Breuer's rebellion against Madison Avenue's prevailing architecture. Peter Blake of Art in America was kinder, calling it a "wonderful beast" and praising the way it gave the museum an identity of its own.
- 1966
The Whitney Museum opens Marcel Breuer's building
The Whitney Museum of American Art opened this building by Marcel Breuer and Hamilton P. Smith on September 27, 1966; it cost $6 million. The Whitney stayed nearly five decades, closing here with a Jeff Koons retrospective that ended on October 19, 2014.
Source: Wikipedia
- 1973
The Whitney holds its first Biennial in the new building
The Whitney Museum inaugurated the Whitney Biennial in the Breuer building in 1973, launching a recurring survey of contemporary American art. The show became one of the museum's signature events, continuing there until the Whitney moved downtown in 2015.
Source: Wikipedia
- 1985
Michael Graves proposes a colorful addition, and a Breuer collaborator calls it an invasion
In 1985 the Whitney chose Michael Graves, known for bold colors on classical forms, to design an addition that would more than double the museum and overhang Breuer's building. Hamilton Smith, who had helped Breuer design it, wrote in the New York Times that the plan treated the original as one more block in a pile of toys and that Breuer would sooner have seen it torn down. Graves reworked the design in three rounds, each more restrained than the last, before the plan was abandoned.
- 1998
Richard Gluckman's modest expansion moves offices into the neighboring townhouses
After the Graves fight, the Whitney turned in 1998 to Richard Gluckman for a quieter expansion. His plan took in the adjoining townhouses to the east and south, moved the library, offices and archives out of the top floor, and added about 30 percent more gallery space. The party wall was breached to link the buildings, an unused balcony was enclosed, and a two-story library went into the rear yard, preserving Breuer's block as a solitary sculptural form.
- 2003
The Whitney drops Rem Koolhaas's tower plan, then turns to Renzo Piano
A 2001 proposal by Rem Koolhaas's firm OMA called for an 11-story tower addition to the Breuer building. It was revised several times and abandoned in 2003. Renzo Piano then proposed another tower in 2004, which would have required demolishing several buildings on Madison Avenue and drew resistance from neighboring owners. The Landmarks Commission approved it in 2006, but the Whitney instead hired Piano to design a new museum downtown.
- 2014
The Whitney closes the building with a Jeff Koons retrospective
The Whitney's last exhibition in the Breuer building was a retrospective of Jeff Koons, which ended on October 19, 2014. It was the largest survey the museum had devoted to a single artist and one of its best-attended shows. The museum moved to Renzo Piano's new building in the Meatpacking District the following year, leaving behind its donor plaques and Charles Simonds's Dwellings, a miniature work of art on the stair.
“The Whitney's final exhibit in the Breuer Building was a Jeff Koons retrospective, which ended October 19, 2014.”
Source: Wikipedia
- 2016
The Met opens Met Breuer, a branch for modern and contemporary art
After the Whitney vacated the building for a new downtown home in 2014, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, which had agreed to lease the property in 2011, completed a $12.95 million renovation. Met Breuer opened in 2016 and operated until the Met closed it permanently in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Source: Wikipedia
- 2021
The Frick Collection hangs old masters in the Breuer building as Frick Madison
In March 2021 the building reopened as the Frick Madison, a stand-in home for the Frick Collection during the renovation of its mansion. Old masters hung against stark dark gray walls, mostly one or two paintings to a wall, with no glass, plaques or signs and an app to identify the works. Dutch and Flemish paintings were on the second floor, Italian and Spanish on the third and British and French on the fourth. It closed on March 3, 2024.
“The museum building reopened in March 2021 as the Frick Madison, a temporary gallery of the Frick Collection.”
Source: Wikipedia
- 2025
Sotheby's opens its new headquarters in the Breuer Building
After the Whitney left, the building housed the Met Breuer from 2016 to 2020 and Frick Madison from March 2021 to March 3, 2024. Sotheby's agreed to buy it for about $100 million in 2023. The city designated the exterior and parts of the interior landmarks on May 20, 2025, and Sotheby's opened here on November 8, 2025.
Source: Wikipedia
- 2025
The building is designated a New York City landmark
As Sotheby's prepared to move its headquarters into the Breuer building, the Landmarks Preservation Commission designated its exterior and select interiors a New York City landmark on May 20, 2025, protecting Marcel Breuer's 1966 design.
Source: Wikipedia
Further reading
- 945 Madison AvenueWikipedia
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