Designated: Individual and Interior Landmark – May 20, 2025
Marcel Breuer’s 1966 Whitney Museum is an icon of Brutalist architecture, and the first museum in Manhattan devoted entirely to American Art.
Breuer, who trained as a designer at the Bauhaus, designed both the museum and its interiors, which work in tandem as an artistic whole. This synthesis of inside and outside reflects the German concept of Gesamtkunstwerk, or total work of art.
The museum’s mesmerizing system of lobby ceiling lights is echoed in its coffered gallery ceilings on the floors above. These two elements are connected via the museum’s staircase, which is widely celebrated as its own discrete work of art, and has been lauded as “one of the most stunning spaces in any 20th-century building.”
The building was designated as part of the Upper East Side Historic District in 1981, and any changes to its exterior have been regulated by LPC since that time. As a result of the Individual and Interior Landmark status, sections of the interior, including the lobby and main stairwell, will now also be protected under the Landmarks Law.
Breuer’s Whitney building and its interiors allow visitors to be surrounded by a set of Modern design ideas informed by Bauhaus principles. That’s a rare experience in New York City, and deserved to be protected.
Image- courtesy of the LPC
