Frank Lloyd Wright: The Hidden History Of The Guggenheim Museum

The Hidden History of the Guggenheim Museum

June 8th marks the 150th anniversary of the birth of Frank Lloyd Wright, one of America’s most iconic and celebrated architects. Here in New York City, Wright’s famed Guggenheim Museum stands along Museum Mile as one of his most well-known buildings. A masterpiece of modern architecture, the Guggenheim Museum is both an official New York City Landmark and a National Historic Landmark, signifying it’s architectural, cultural and historical importance. Few people, however, really know the history and development of Wright’s iconic landmark. Here’s a quick look at the hidden history of the Guggenheim Museum.

The museum itself was the brainchild of Solomon R. Guggenheim, a wealthy mining scion who enjoyed collecting artwork starting in the late 19th century. He displayed his art collection in the Plaza Hotel for the public to see and later established the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation in 1937 to promote modern art. Guggenheim later opened the Museum of Non-Objective Painting in 1939 in Midtown Manhattan to display the works of artists like Wassily Kadinsky, Marc Chagall and

Eventually, he settled on a design that incorporated an inverted ziggurat-type structure that spiraled downward internally. He intended for patrons to take an elevator to the top of the museum and work their way down the spiral rotunda to view the artwork. After considering several locations in the city, including the Bronx riverfront, it was eventually decided that the museum’s location would be along Fifth Avenue in the Upper East Side, creating a sharp contrast between the stately Metropolitan Museum of Art nearby and the neighborhood’s collection of Gilded Age mansions and ornate townhouses. Although Wright originally intended for the museum’s exterior to be red-colored stone, it was eventually built of