Sotheby’s has announced November 8 as the opening date for its new Breuer Building headquarters at 945 Madison Avenue on New York’s Upper East Side.
The auction house bought the building from the Whitney Museum in 2023, and Pritzker Prize winning, Basel based architects Herzog & de Meuron, in partnership with New York based PBDW Architects, have spent the past two years renovating it. (The Whitney ultimately outgrew the building and relocated downtown in 2015 to a new Renzo Piano designed space in the Meatpacking District.)
“We will be honored to welcome the global art community back into this remarkable museum quality space,” Sotheby’s CEO Charles Stewart said in a statement. “On behalf of all of us at Sotheby’s, I extend our gratitude to our partners Herzog & de Meuron for their brilliant work in amplifying the Breuer’s historical and material legacy for the Sotheby’s era. They have devoted the same level of care and respect to the building as you would a great work of art. I’d also like to thank the New York City Landmarks Preservation Committee for their support and praise for our ‘spectacular’ use of the space. We think visitors will agree.”
The opening will coincide with a “blockbuster” exhibition of modern and contemporary art, followed by marquee sales the week of November 17.
Sotheby’s said its new headquarters will include “state of the art gallery space to showcase [its] full suite of offerings including reimagined and flexible salesrooms, exhibitions across its wide range of collecting categories, and a new fine dining restaurant created in partnership with Roman and Williams to open later this winter.”
Herzog & de Meuron’s past projects include London’s Tate Modern, M+ Museum in Hong Kong, and the de Young Museum in San Francisco.
In May, ahead of the Sotheby’s move, the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) designated the Breuer Building as both an individual and interior landmark, meaning the building was protected for its historical significance. As a result, the Sotheby’s renovation plan required LPC approval.
The building, designed by Marcel Breuer and completed in 1966, has been acclaimed for its unusual form: It resembles an inverted ziggurat and has a raw concrete interior and distinctive cantilevering. Initially constructed to house the Whitney’s collection of American art, the structure was vacated when the museum moved downtown in 2015. Since then, the Metropolitan Museum of Art has used it as a contemporary art annex, and the Frick Collection as a temporary home during its own renovation.
Shortly after Sotheby’s announced the acquisition of the building, preservationist groups submitted a lengthy request to the landmark commission for the designation to be approved. Some preservationists expressed concern about the site’s vulnerability to changes amid a commercial takeover.
“We are privileged to inhabit an architectural masterpiece that has been home to the Whitney Museum, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Frick,” Sotheby’s executive vice president and Americas chairman Lisa Dennison said in a statement. “Those who knew it in earlier incarnations will be moved by how we’ve reimagined 945 Madison Avenue, preserving the spirit of nearly 60 years of acclaimed programming. Breuer’s design, with its remarkable ability to embrace many styles and eras of art, is especially meaningful for an auction house.”
The move is part of a Sotheby’s plan to expand its global footprint. The auction house opened new flagship salesrooms in Hong Kong and Paris in 2024. It also opened Gantry Point in 2023, a 240,000-square-foot building with state of the art facilities in Long Island City.
