Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum
1071 Fifth Avenue (at 88th Street)
New Nork NY 10128
Frank Lloyd Wright 1959
'Here, Wright took abstract
form and modern technology to their contemporary limits, using
reinforced concrete to create a soaring spiral that swelled as it rose,
creating a building that was as much sculpture as it was architecture.
'With ample justification,
critics of the building has attacked the Guggenheim for ignoring both
its urban context and its role in exhibiting art... the continuous
slanted ramp Wright used instead of horizontal floors made the display
of conventionally framed paintings especially difficult.'
Carter Wiseman, Shaping a
Nation, 1998
'When asked why he chose the
ramp, instead of level floors in the conventional stack, Wright
explained that he felt the museum-goer would find it far more convenient
to enter the building, take the elevator to the top ramp, gradually
descend around an open court, always have the option, as the ramp
touched the elevator stack at each level, to either go back, or skip
down to further levels, and finally, at the end of the exhibition, he
would find himself on the ground floor, near the exit.
Bruce Brooks Pfeiffer, Frank
Lloyd Wright 1991
An extension to the museum in
1992, by Gwathmey Siegel & Associates, added a ten-story limestone
tower behind the original spiral. The new tower provides flat walls for
paintings, complementing the display of sculpture around the spiral
gallery - which, perversely, people tend to view by wandering up
the ramp rather than down.
Simon Glynn 1999
How to visit
The Guggenheim is on Fifth Avenue opposite
Central Park, at 88th Street. It is open daily except Thursdays and holidays, from 10 a.m.
By subway take 4,5 or 6 on the Lexington Avenue
line to 86th Street, and walk northwest to Fifth Avenue at 88th.
For information call +1 212 423 3500.
Architectural tours are available by appointment.
Books and other web
sites
Click the book titles to view and to order
direct from
A practical visitors' guide to thirty six
publicly accessible Frank Lloyd Wright sites, with a straightforward one or two page
description of each, with black and white photographs.
www.guggenheim.org is the official web site
of the Guggenheim Museums, with comprehensive information on opening times and
exhibitions.
www.geocities.com/SoHo/1469
provides both its own Frank Lloyd Wright content and a set of links to other Frank Lloyd
Wright sites on the web.
All links outside galinsky will open in a
new window. Close it when you've finished, or use the Window menu on your browser, to
return to galinsky.
