980 Madison Avenue (also known as the Parke-Bernet Galleries building) is a building located at

Madison Avenue Madison Avenue is a north-south avenue in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, United States, that carries northbound one-way traffic. It runs from Madison Square (at 23rd Street) to meet the southbound Harlem River Drive at 142nd St ...

and East 76th Street on the

Upper East Side The Upper East Side, sometimes abbreviated UES, is a neighborhood in the boroughs of New York City, borough of Manhattan in New York City, bounded by 96th Street (Manhattan), 96th Street to the north, the East River to the east, 59th Street (Man ...

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five Boroughs of New York City, boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the List of co ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the U ...

. It served as the headquarters of Parke-Bernet Galleries from its opening on November 10, 1949 to its sale in 1987. In 2006, ''The'' ''New York Times'' wrote that the building had functioned as "the

Grand Central Terminal Grand Central Terminal (GCT; also referred to as Grand Central Station or simply as Grand Central) is a commuter rail terminal located at 42nd Street and Park Avenue in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. Grand Central is the southern termi ...

of the art world." The building is part of the

Upper East Side Historic District The Upper East Side Historic District is a landmarked historic district A historic district or heritage district is a section of a city which contains older buildings considered valuable for historical or architectural reasons. In some cou ...

Design

When completed at a cost of over $1,000,000, the building occupied a block, from Seventy-sixth to Seventy-seventh streets on Madison Avenue. It had ten galleries and a larger auditorium, all covered in

mohair Mohair (pronounced ) is a fabric or yarn made from the hair of the Angora goat. (This should not be confused with Angora wool, which is made from the fur of the Angora rabbit.) Both durable and resilient, mohair is notable for its high lus ...

, that could seat 600 and 2,000 people, respectively. The building had over 45,000 square feet and had a stage modeled upon those on Broadway. ''The New York Times'' wrote that the building was "hailed as a new departure in commercial structures." It was designed to be only six stories tall by the architects, A. Stewart Walker and Alfred Easton Poor, to allow light to reach the nearby

Carlyle Hotel The Carlyle Hotel, known formally as The Carlyle, A Rosewood Hotel, is a combination luxury apartment hotel located at 35 East 76th Street on the northeast corner of Madison Avenue and East 76th Street, on the Upper East Side of New York City. O ...

History

Parke-Bernet Parke-Bernet Galleries was an American auction house, active from 1937 to 1964, when Sotheby's purchased it. The company was founded by a group of employees of the American Art Association, including Otto Bernet, Hiram H. Parke, Leslie A. Hyam, ...

, an American auction house, had previously been headquartered at 30 East 57th Street. The galleries there which were considered very lavish. ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' wrote in 1949 that they were "always looked on as the most luxurious auction rooms in the world." In June 1949, after auctioning the Joseph Brummer art collection, Parke-Bernet ended auctions for the summer as its headquarters were to be torn down and a new building be constructed to hold the galleries. While the building was under construction, the auction house was based in the Brummer Gallery. The lot at 980

had previously been occupied by a house owned by Seth Milliken and five

rowhouses In architecture and city planning, a terrace or terraced house ( UK) or townhouse ( US) is a form of medium-density housing that originated in Europe in the 16th century, whereby a row of attached dwellings share side walls. In the United State ...

. Walker & Poor designed the building in a modern style, and it was opened on November 10, 1949. The opening ceremony had around 2,500 attendees and speakers included Hiram H. Parke, Robert W. Dowling and Leslie A. Hyam. The move led to the development of an art market on upper Madison Avenue. In March 1966

Peregrine Pollen Peregrine Michael Hungerford Pollen (24 January 193118 February 2020) was an English auctioneer who headed Parke-Bernet in the 1960s after it was purchased by Sotheby's. He was known for expanding the auction house in North America, and bringing ...

, then president of

Sotheby Parke Bernet Sotheby's () is a British-founded American multinational corporation with headquarters in New York City. It is one of the world's largest brokers of fine and decorative art, jewellery, and collectibles. It has 80 locations in 40 countries, and ...

, used the building for a concert by

pianist A pianist ( , ) is an individual musician who plays the piano. Since most forms of Western music can make use of the piano, pianists have a wide repertoire and a wide variety of styles to choose from, among them traditional classical music, j ...

Philippe Entremont Philippe Entremont (born 7 June 1934) is a French classical pianist and conducting, conductor. His recordings as a pianist include concertos by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Tchaikovsky, Maurice Ravel, Sergei Rachmaninoff, Rachmaninoff, Camille Sain ...

. In 1967, a

brownstone Brownstone is a brown Triassic–Jurassic sandstone that was historically a popular building material. The term is also used in the United States and Canada to refer to a townhouse clad in this or any other aesthetically similar material. Type ...

neighboring the galleries caught fire, and 200 people were evacuated from the building. None of the exhibits were damaged. On June 9, 1987,

Sotheby Parke-Bernet Sotheby's () is a British-founded American multinational corporation with headquarters in New York City. It is one of the world's largest brokers of fine and decorative art, jewellery, and collectibles. It has 80 locations in 40 countries, and ...

announced that it was closing the galleries, causing an uproar in the New York City art community. Klaus Perls, a German art dealer, said ''I am shattered by the news. I thought that Sotheby's was the greatest asset to the art market in New York that could be imagined. I think a lot of the glamour that has characterized the art market in New York over the last 20 years is going to disappear when Sotheby's leaves the premises.'' Parke-Bernet relocated to its York Avenue galleries. The building was then divided into small rooms for tenants and included in the

. In the 2000 '' A.I.A. Guide to New York City'' the building was described as "an insipid box unrelated to any cultural values."

Statue

The building has an

aluminum Aluminium (aluminum in American and Canadian English) is a chemical element with the symbol Al and atomic number 13. Aluminium has a density lower than those of other common metals, at approximately one third that of steel. It h ...

sculpture titled "Venus and Manhattan" by Wheeler Williams of

Venus Venus is the second planet from the Sun. It is sometimes called Earth's "sister" or "twin" planet as it is almost as large and has a similar composition. As an interior planet to Earth, Venus (like Mercury) appears in Earth's sky never f ...

. The statue is roughly by , and upon its construction was praised by

William Adams Delano William Adams Delano (January 21, 1874 – January 12, 1960), an American architect, was a partner with Chester Holmes Aldrich in the firm of Delano & Aldrich. The firm worked in the Beaux-Arts tradition for elite clients in New York City, Lon ...

, Robert W. Dowling, and Francis Keally (the president of the

Municipal Art Society The Municipal Art Society of New York (MAS) is a non-profit membership organization for preservation in New York City, which aims to encourage thoughtful planning and urban design and inclusive neighborhoods across the city. The organization was ...

). Parts of the statue protruded over the building line, and Parke-Bernet agreed to pay $25 per year to 'rent' the space occupied by the statue.

Proposed remodel

In 2006, Aby Rosen offered to restore the building to its original appearance, but made the offer contingent upon being able to construct a 30-story glass tower on top of the galleries. The tower was designed by

Norman Foster Norman or Normans may refer to: Ethnic and cultural identity * The Normans, a people partly descended from Norse Vikings who settled in the territory of Normandy in France in the 10th and 11th centuries ** People or things connected with the Norm ...

, and supported by prominent figures such as

Jeff Koons Jeffrey Lynn Koons (; born January 21, 1955) is an American artist recognized for his work dealing with popular culture and his sculptures depicting everyday objects, including balloon animals produced in stainless steel with mirror-Surface fi ...

Tory Burch Tory Burch ( née Robinson; born June 17, 1966) is an American fashion designer, businesswoman, and philanthropist. She is the Executive Chairman and Chief Creative Officer of her own brand, Tory Burch LLC. She was listed as the 88th most power ...

, and

Ronald Perelman Ronald Owen Perelman (; born January 1, 1943) is an American banker, businessman and investor. MacAndrews & Forbes Incorporated, his company, has invested in companies with interests in groceries, cigars, licorice, makeup, cars, photography, ...

. However, many in New York disliked the proposed design. The New York City Landmarks Commission reviewed the proposal, and in January 2007 rejected it. Rosen and Foster then proposed a new, six story addition in May 2008, and in November 2009 a smaller, five story addition was accepted. The proposal had not been started in 2013 and Aby Rosen put the property on the market. In 2019 Ramy Brook, a fashion house, opened a

flagship A flagship is a vessel used by the commanding officer of a group of naval ships, characteristically a flag officer entitled by custom to fly a distinguishing flag. Used more loosely, it is the lead ship in a fleet of vessels, typically the f ...

store at the location.

References

{{Reflist Madison Avenue Sotheby's Upper East Side