Sotheby’s Taps Herzog＆de Meuron for Breuer Building Renovation

Sotheby’s has revealed that Pritzker Prize–winning Swiss architecture firm Herzog & de Meuron will renovate its new global headquarters, the iconicBreuer Buildingat 945 Madison Avenue on New York’s Upper East Side. The auction house additionallyannouncedthat it had finalized its purchase of the Brutalist structure from the Whitney Museum of American Art, which occupied it for decades beforedecampingin 2015 to its current home in Manhattan’s downtown Meatpacking District.

Designed in 1966 by Marcel Breuer, the Breuer Building since its inception has only housed museums. The stark, nearly windowless five-story building was earlier this year vacated by the Frick Collection, which had inhabited it since2021as the Frick Madison while its own home, a Gilded Age Fifth Avenue mansion, was being restored. Prior to that, it was occupied by theMet Breuer, a contemporary-art-focused outpost of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, for several years.

Sotheby’s CEO Charles F. Stewart told the New York Times last year that the chance to purchase the edifice was a “once in a lifetime opportunity” and affirmed that the auction house was “committed to preserving the integrity of what’s loved about the building.” Herzog & de Meuron, which has designed spaces including the De Young in San Francisco and London’s Tate Modern, is known for its respectful architectural interventions in older structures.

“By reviving lost spaces, carefully inserting new ones and doing other subtle interventions with a considered palette of materials, the building will be prepared for its new role in the auction world and will also be more accessible again for visitors and the people of New York,” said firm cofounder Jacques Herzog in a statement.

The renovation, which will include the construction of sales rooms, galleries, and dining spaces, is expected to be completed by fall 2025.