The Swiss firm Herzog & de Meuron – in collaboration with the New York studio PBDW Architects – has turned the Breuer Building in Manhattan into the new global headquarters of the auction house Sotheby’s, which officially opened recently. Located at 945 Madison Avenue and completed by the Hungarian architect Marcel Breuer in 1966, it was for fifty years the Whitney Museum of American Art, and subsequently housed the Metropolitan Museum of Art (Met Breuer) and the Frick Collection.

The renovation project began with a detailed study of the original inverted-ziggurat volume, with its distinctive trapezoidal windows, the aim being to preserve its essence while adapting it to the needs of Sotheby’s. The focus was on maintaining the building’s defining features, such as bluestone floors, coffered ceilings, the sculptural stairs, and the lobby’s elements and finishes. All of this has been restored in accordance with minimal intervention as criterion.

The main improvements included the elimination of office spaces to regain galleries of the original plan, a full modernization of lighting, and the creation of a flexible exhibition space on the second floor that could be transformed into a sales or event venue. A new freight elevator was later installed so that montage work could be easily carried out without interfering with visitor circulation.

The result is a renovated edifice which, without losing its historic character, offers large versatile room for exhibitions, auctions, and other public activities. With its reopening Sotheby’s begins a new phase, one where respect for heritage and contemporary functionality combine in a near-invisible operation, striking a perfect balance between innovation and the preservation of an architectural legacy.

See construction process