Carnegie Hill co-op owned by MoMA’s original director lists for $2.3M
Listing photos are virtually staged. Photos courtesy of Coldwell Banker Warburg
The Carnegie Hill apartment that once belonged to one of the most influential figures of the modern art movement has hit the market. Alfred Barr Jr. was the original director of the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) when it opened in 1929, where he championed all forms of art and became known for bringing Pablo Picasso’s work to the United States. During his tenure as director, Barr lived in a high-floor three-bedroom co-op at 49 East 96th Street, which recently became available for $2,295,000.
According to MoMA, Barr first grabbed attention after teaching the first course on 20th-century art at Wellesley College. Serving as the inaugural director from 1929 through 1943, he helped steer the institution to become an “experimental and open place” for people to experience modern art and insisted the museum feature interdisciplinary collections.
As director, Barr opened “Cubism and Abstract Art” in 1936, a groundbreaking exhibition that included nearly 400 works of painting, drawing, printmaking, architecture, furniture, and more. He also acquired an unparalleled collection of Picasso works, including “Les Demoiselles d’Avignon,” considered the first cubist painting, and which Barr described as “one of the few pictures in the history of modern art which can justly be called epoch-making.”
Barr’s former apartment is on the 14th floor of the 19-story Art Dec co-op at 49 East 96th Street. Designed by Thomas W. Lamb, famous for his theater designs in New York City and across the country, the building was built in 1930 and includes 64 apartments.
Never before available, the apartment was occupied by Barr’s only daughter, artist and set designer Victoria Barr, who died at the age of 87 last spring.
The charming pre-war apartment is currently configured as a three-bedroom home, but could easily offer four bedrooms. The residence boasts northern, southern, and eastern exposures, bringing in lots of natural light and views down to Midtown and the Triborough Bridge.
There’s a kitchen with a pantry and laundry area. Expanding the space here would create a breakfast nook. There are four full bathrooms.
Not only is the apartment tied to a museum icon, but it’s also located near Museum Mile, home to The Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, Cooper Hewitt, Museum of the City of New York, and more.
Amenities at the building include a 24-hour door staff, a live-in super, a gym, and bike rooms.
[Listing details: 49 East 96th Street, #14C at CityRealty]
[At Coldwell Banker Warburg by Lisa Chajet and Maria Daou]
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