Guggenheim, Solomon R., Museum
National Historic Landmark

Guggenheim, Solomon R., Museum

New York, New York County, New York
Listed
May 18, 2005
Type
Building
Period
Pre Contact
Ref No.
05000443

About this property

The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, often referred to as The Guggenheim, is an art museum at 1071 Fifth Avenue between 88th and 89th Streets on the Upper East Side of Manhattan in New York City. It hosts a permanent collection of Impressionist, Post-Impressionist, early Modern and contemporary art and also features special exhibitions throughout the year. It was established by the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation in 1939 as the Museum of Non-Objective Painting, under the guidance of its first director, Hilla von Rebay. The museum adopted its current name in 1952, three years after the death of its founder Solomon R. Guggenheim. It continues to be operated and owned by the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation. The museum's building, a landmark work of 20th-century architecture designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, drew controversy for the unusual shape of its display spaces and took 15 years to design and build; it was completed in 1959. It consists of a six-story, bowl-shaped main gallery to the south, a four-story "monitor" to the north, and a ten-story annex to the northeast. A six-story helical ramp extends along the main gallery's perimeter, under a central ceiling skylight. The Thannhauser Collection is housed within the top three stories of the monitor, and there are additional galleries in the annex and a learning center in the basement. The museum building's design was controversial when it was completed but was widely praised afterward. The building underwent extensive renovations from 1990 to 1992, when the annex was built, and it was renovated again from 2005 to 2008. The museum's collection has grown over the decades and is founded upon several important private collections, including those of Guggenheim, Karl Nierendorf, Katherine Sophie Dreier, Justin Thannhauser, Rebay, Giuseppe Panza, Robert Mapplethorpe and the Bohen Foundation. The collection, which includes around 8,000 works as of 2022, is shared with sister museums in Bilbao and Venice. In 2023, nearly 861,000 people visited the museum.

Location

1071 Fifth Ave.
New York, New York County, New York
40.78304, -73.95885

Categories

ARCHITECTUREART
National Register nomination ›
Sources

Property data from the National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service (public domain).

Description adapted from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

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Nearby Historic Sites

The Church of the Heavenly Rest and the Chapel of the Beloved Disciple
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0.1 mi
Carnegie, Andrew, Mansion
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0.1 mi
Apartment at 1261 Madison Avenue
Pre Contact
0.1 mi
Burden, James A. Jr., House and Kahn, Otto H., House
Industrial
0.1 mi
Warburg, Felix M., Mansion
Industrial
0.2 mi

Nearby Battles

Battle of Harlem Heights
1776Revolutionary War
2.7 mi

Questions about this property

When was Guggenheim, Solomon R., Museum listed on the National Register?

Guggenheim, Solomon R., Museum was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on May 18, 2005.

What type of historic resource is Guggenheim, Solomon R., Museum?

Guggenheim, Solomon R., Museum is classified as a building in the National Register of Historic Places.

Is Guggenheim, Solomon R., Museum a National Historic Landmark?

Yes. Guggenheim, Solomon R., Museum has been designated a National Historic Landmark (NHL), the highest level of federal recognition for historic properties in the United States.

What is the period of significance for Guggenheim, Solomon R., Museum?

The period of significance for Guggenheim, Solomon R., Museum is recorded as the pre_contact era, specifically around 1071.

Can I research the history near Guggenheim, Solomon R., Museum?

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