Solomon R Guggenheim Museum, New York
08/10/1995
Frank Lloyd Wright
Absolute perfection. There, that may as well be the entirety of my description of this building as waffling on about it further would do no more justice than those two words. But, while I’m here…
It opened in 1959 and sits on the corner of 5th Avenue and East 89th Street in the Upper East Side of Manhattan. Even the address sounds perfect. Wright produced a number of design proposals, one of them based on an hexagonal plan, before making a decision and I don’t think anyone could disagree with his final choice. The restricted city centre location meant that the building was much more vertical than the normal form of galleries and museums at the time and he was equally revolutionary in his approach to the circulation through the building. It is intended that, on arrival, you travel to the top of the building via the escalator and then meander your way down along the continuous spiral ramp that hugs the external walls until you finish the experience on the floor of the impressive central atrium looking up at the magnificent glazed roof. Everyone, at some point in their lifetime, should do this if ever given the opportunity.
Wright had experimented with this internal ramp form earlier in his career in a building in San Francisco and had certainly mastered the concept by the time he drew up his designs for the Guggenheim. As well as spiralling downwards, the ramp also moves inwards as the building gets narrower towards the ground floor, and this is elegantly demonstrated in the form of the building when viewed from the outside. The simple, smooth finished lines of the facades are constructed in concrete, not a preferred option but a budgetary one, which he had originally planned to paint red. No thanks, that might have been a bit ‘showy’; the battleship grey was the right choice I reckon. The interior underwent a serious restoration programme in 1992 and then, from 2005 to 2008, it was time to do the same with most of the external finishes.
As is usually the case with designs that push a few boundaries and dare to be a bit different, this one had its critics initially but it is now one of the most recognisable and revered buildings in the world. And, even more importantly, it’s one of my all-time top 5! We were here in October 1995 and had our photo taken by the front entrance underneath a part of the signage that spells out the building’s name right across the full length of the main façade. It just so happens we were beneath NHEI which is a pleasingly wacky set of letters that has caused me to want to recreate the scene with other friends under different parts of the name. I ticked off a second image with my nephew underneath UGGE in 2013 so, just another ten to go!
Other buildings we have seen by Frank Lloyd Wright:
Unity Temple, Oak Park, Chicago.
Frank Lloyd Wright House and Studio, Oak Park, Chicago.
Nathan G Moore House, Oak Park, Chicago.
Frank Thomas House, Oak Park, Chicago.
Arthur Heurtley House, Oak Park, Chicago.
