Bookable
An Apollonaut travel guide
Moments in a longer story.
Selected milestones in the history of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum.
On this page
Founding, building and recognition
These dates describe the place you can learn about here. They are not a company timeline for Apollonaut.
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1939
The Museum of Non-Objective Painting
The museum opens at 24 East 54th Street, directed by Hilla von Rebay.
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June 1943
Frank Lloyd Wright is hired
Wright begins 15 years of work on the design.
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1952
A new name
The museum is renamed the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum.
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14 August 1956
Construction begins
Work starts on the building on Fifth Avenue.
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21 October 1959
The museum opens
The building is dedicated, six months after Wright’s death.
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1992
The annex
A renovation and a ten-storey annex by Gwathmey Siegel & Associates are completed.
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6 October 2008
National Historic Landmark
The building is designated after a restoration completed that year.
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2019
World Heritage
The museum is inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List with other buildings by Frank Lloyd Wright.
Follow the stories behind the dates
A timeline is a beginning. The longer history introduces the people and places; the sources below provide further context.
Read at the source
Sources & further reading
Links lead to the original publishers.
