4. The Museum had a famous guard dog
The MoMA’s runaway success prompted a move from the Heckscher Building on 57th and Fifth to a townhouse owned by the Rockefellers at its current address on 53rd Street in 1932. Perhaps fittingly for the museum’s new, more residential address, it also got a new occupant: a guard dog named Don. The German Shepard made headlines for being the only museum watchdog in New York City at the time. Following a highly publicized heist at the Brooklyn Museum, Don was given to The MoMA by Vanity Fair magazine.
Don was responsible for night-time patrols, and during the day could often be seen lolling about in the backyard or sunning on the upper terrace. According to The MoMA’s website, “Within a year he had become so friendly with visitors that he had to be retrained to be wary of strangers.”
