Docomomo US and its New York Tri-State Chapter continue to successfully work to designate and protect Marcel Breuer’s iconic inverted Brutalist ziggurat, the former Whitney Museum of American Art at 945 Madison, as a New York City Individual and Interior Landmark.  
 
On Tuesday, December 17, the NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) voted to calendar the former Whitney Museum for both individual and an interior landmark designation. Docomomo submitted a request for evaluation for the interiors in December 2023 after it was announced the building would be sold to the auction house Sotheby’s. The landmark designations calendared by the LPC would be above and beyond the current protection the building receives for its inclusion in the Upper East Side Historic District, designated in 1981. Constructed from 1964-66, the Whitney Museum was designated a landmark as part of that district only 15 years after opening, making it one of the youngest buildings ever to be landmarked in New York City. In its designation report the LPC noted: 

 

“The Whitney Museum of American Art, within the historic district, with its asymmetrical massing and poured concrete forms has been praised as one of the most distinguished works of modern architecture in New York, despite the somewhat startling effect of its presence on Madison Avenue.”

 

“Docomomo could not be more excited to see the LPC take such broad steps to protect the former Whitney Museum of American Art” said Liz Waytkus, Executive Director of Docomomo US. “We are even more excited for the possible Interior Landmark designation, which currently only recognizes 123 sites and just a handful that are Modern including the Guggenheim Museum, the TWA Flight Center, the Ford Foundation, Manufacturers Trust Company Building, and the United Nations Hotel and Ambassador Grill.”  
 
Waytkus continued, “The former Whitney Museum is perhaps Breuer’s greatest built achievement marrying his earlier Bauhaus design principles and furniture design and post-war residential work into this rare civic-oriented masterpiece featuring monumental robust massing, dramatic spatial sequences, and distinctive contrasting textures.”  
 
Docomomo US/New York Tri-State President John Arbuckle stated: “We are thrilled that the LPC has calendared both the seminal interiors and the iconic exterior of the former Whitney, the best-known work of architecture by Bauhaus master Marcel Breuer and one of international significance.” 

Docomomo US and the Docomomo US/New York Tri-State chapter set to work on the designation process following the announcement in 2023 that the Whitney would sell the building to Sotheby’s, fearing with a change in ownership and a change in use, that portions of Breuer's original interior could be permanently and unsympathetically altered. 
 
In December 2023, Docomomo submitted 45-page Request for Evaluation, with primary research by preservationist Thomas Collins, requesting that the Commission consider designating the former Whitney Museum as an Interior Landmark.  
 
Since the submission Docomomo has built a broad coalition, now comprised of six other leading local, state, and national organizations, which all submitted letters to the LPC in support of the RFE.  
 
Those organizations are: 

 

• Friends of the Upper East Side Historic Districts
• Historic Districts Council
• Municipal Art Society
• The New York Landmarks Conservancy
• The Preservation League of New York State
• Society of Architectural Historians (national) Heritage Conservation Committee

 

In November, after Docomomo presented to the Landmarks Committee, Community Board 8 Manhattan – whose Upper East Side territory includes 945 Madison – approved a resolution encouraging the Landmarks Preservation Commission to preserve the interiors of 945 Madison Avenue through an Interior Landmark Designation. Read the resolution.  John Arbuckle noted: “We are very grateful to our coalition partners and Community Board 8 for its support of our efforts.” 
 
The LPC announced on Friday, December 13, that the agenda for its next meeting on Tuesday, December 17, would include votes on whether to calendar the former Whitney as an interior landmark and, whether to calendar it as an individual landmark as well. Both of those agenda items were unanimously passed by the Commission. Indicating its enthusiasm during the discussion at the hearing, Commissioner Jeanne Lufty remarked: “Thank god we’re doing this.”  
 
A public hearing on the designations is expected in the next 3-4 months.