2. The MoMA is located on the former site of the Rockefeller townhouse
One of the most important donations made to the Museum of Modern Art was not art, but rather real estate. Abby Aldrich Rockefeller and her husband John D. Rockefeller Jr. donated their seven-story townhouse on 53rd street and let the museum demolish it in order to build the sculpture garden (subsequently named for Abby). Abby and John were both collectors and patrons of the arts, but John’s taste was much more conservative, whereas Abby was more interested in contemporary art and American folk art. Legend has it that before they donated their townhouse to The MoMA, but after their children were grown, Abby transformed the seventh-floor nursery into her own personal art gallery.
Fun fact: Across from the museum today still stands another Rockefelle residence at 13-15 West 54th Street, where John D. Rockefeller (senior) and his wife Abby Aldrich Rockefeller resided for 40 years. These twin buildings were built in 1897 by architect Henry Hardenbergh — the mastermind behind the Dakota Building and Plaza Hotel — and today houses a Southern Italian comfort food restaurant called Il Gattopardo.
