Guggenheim Museum Makeover Not So Extreme
Friday October 6, 2006
by Stan Parchin
Crain's New York Business reported on September 25, 2006 that the ongoing external restoration of New York's Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, designed by American architect Frank Lloyd Wright (1867-1959) and known for its trademark spiral of galleries on Manhattan's Fifth Avenue, will be neither extensive nor expensive as previously anticipated. Stripped of 12 layers of paint applied over 46 years and presently under major scaffolding, the structure's concrete surface has suffered from cracks since the museum opened to the public in 1959. Laser surveys as well as thermal, moisture and other studies deemed the New York landmark immediately fit for necessary rehabilitation shortly after the beginning of this century. Much of the edifice's restoration, including replacement of its windows and skylights, is currently estimated at a cost of $28 million US. The work is supported financially by the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation's Board of Trustees, the City of New York under the auspices of Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg (contributing $7 million US), the State of New York (pledging $1 million US), New York City's Department of Cultural Affairs and City Council, among others.
The Guggenheim Museum will celebrate its grand fiftieth anniversary at the end of 2007. This coming Fall, Winter and Spring, it will host Spanish Painting from El Greco to Picasso: Time, Truth, and History, a major international loan exhibition of some 135 works by Spanish artists. Arranged thematically, the paintings from the Sixteenth through the middle of the Twentieth Centuries will cover such topics as history, religion, classical mythology and everyday life. The museum will remain open during its restoration. But according to Crain's, the Guggenheim's Spring 2007 programming may be modified. Its sidewalk is scheduled for replacement in Spring 2008.
Image credits:
1. Front view
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York
Photo: David M. Heald, © SRGF, New York
2. Exterior scaffolding
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York
© 2006 Stan Parchin
Crain's New York Business reported on September 25, 2006 that the ongoing external restoration of New York's Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, designed by American architect Frank Lloyd Wright (1867-1959) and known for its trademark spiral of galleries on Manhattan's Fifth Avenue, will be neither extensive nor expensive as previously anticipated. Stripped of 12 layers of paint applied over 46 years and presently under major scaffolding, the structure's concrete surface has suffered from cracks since the museum opened to the public in 1959. Laser surveys as well as thermal, moisture and other studies deemed the New York landmark immediately fit for necessary rehabilitation shortly after the beginning of this century. Much of the edifice's restoration, including replacement of its windows and skylights, is currently estimated at a cost of $28 million US. The work is supported financially by the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation's Board of Trustees, the City of New York under the auspices of Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg (contributing $7 million US), the State of New York (pledging $1 million US), New York City's Department of Cultural Affairs and City Council, among others.
The Guggenheim Museum will celebrate its grand fiftieth anniversary at the end of 2007. This coming Fall, Winter and Spring, it will host Spanish Painting from El Greco to Picasso: Time, Truth, and History, a major international loan exhibition of some 135 works by Spanish artists. Arranged thematically, the paintings from the Sixteenth through the middle of the Twentieth Centuries will cover such topics as history, religion, classical mythology and everyday life. The museum will remain open during its restoration. But according to Crain's, the Guggenheim's Spring 2007 programming may be modified. Its sidewalk is scheduled for replacement in Spring 2008.
Image credits:
1. Front view
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York
Photo: David M. Heald, © SRGF, New York
2. Exterior scaffolding
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York
© 2006 Stan Parchin
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