Wednesday, May 11, 2011
Art MoMA Mia! The Modern Buys Building from Ailing American Folk Art Museum
Posted by Benjamin Sutton on Wed, May 11, 2011 at 12:19 PM
It's been over a year now since the the American Folk Art Museum made a payment on the $32 million loan it took out to build its soaring, narrow new building right next to MoMA on 53rd Street back in 2001, and yesterday the larger museum announced it would buy its defaulting neighbor's home.
The Times' Kate Taylor writes that MoMA is buying the American Folk Art Museum's 45 West 53rd Street building for an undisclosed price that's at least the $32 million to pay back the original AFAM loan. The smaller museum will now be confined to its Lincoln Square branch, which is roughly one sixth the size of the Midtown space, and for which they pay a whopping $1 in rent every year.
In any case it's a terrific solution for MoMA, less so for the AFAM; its chairman, Laura Parsons, tells the Times that there's no immediate deadline for the museum to vacate its building, but that in the future they may mount temporary exhibitions at different locations throughout the city, or even send its collections on tour.
Top Commenters
