7. The Museum Has Moved Locations Multiple Times

The Marcel Breuer-designed Whitney Museum, now The Met Breuer

The studio, which opened in 1914 at West 8th Street in Manhattan’s Greenwich Village was the first location of the Museum, which opened in 1931. In 1954, the Whitney needed more space and moved to a new location at West 54th Street, behind the Museum of Modern Art. A fire at the MoMA killed one person in 1958 and forced the museum to move many of its staff artwork into the upper floors of the Whitney, spurring the decision to find a new permanent location.

The museum then purchased the building on Madison Ave and 75th Street, designed by Marcel Breuer, and reopened there in 1966. Today, the Whitney is located in its new building designed by Renzo Piano located by the Hudson River at 99 Gansevoort Street. It moved out of its Upper East Side location on October 20, 2014 and reopened in the Meatpacking District on May 1, 2015.