The former Roy Lichtenstein studio has been fully renovated by the Whitney Museum of American Art and transformed into a permanent home for the institution's Independent Study Program, which has nurtured artists, critics and scholars with space, instruction and support for their studies over the past 55 years. Located in New York’s Greenwich Village, the project was a gift by Dorothy Lichenstein, the artist’s wife, and his estate. The renovation was overseen by the architecture firm Johnston Marklee, and involved a series of thoughtful modifications to the 100-year-old building, a former metalworking shop.
Originally constructed in 1912, the building was bought by Lichtenstein in 1987. The artist used it for his residence and studio between 1988 and 1997. Johnston Marklee – also behind the Menil Drawing Institute in Houston – was tasked with adding modern artist studios, a seminar room, study rooms, outdoor spaces, an artist-in-residence space on the third floor and additional amenities, such as lounges and dining areas, while preserving the building’s legacy and integrity.
Roy Lichtenstein studio's second life
Lichtenstein’s original studio on the ground floor is now a collection of 15 individual workspaces, while his former office has been adapted into ISP’s fabled Seminar Room. On the second floor, the former living room accommodates communal spaces for meeting and research, while a communal rooftop garden includes the artist's Garden Brushstroke (1996/2009) that was donated by the Roy Lichtenstein Foundation.
‘To help create a permanent home for the Whitney Independent Study Program in the former home and studio of Roy and Dorothy Lichtenstein has been an honour,’ say Sharon Johnston and Mark Lee, founders and partners at Johnston Marklee and both featured in the Wallpaper* USA 300 guide to creative America. ‘We worked on both preserving and transmitting the qualities of the former 1912 metal shop and Lichtenstein’s studio into an accessible home for the ISP filled with daylight. Each floor of the building has been transformed to serve different needs for the new community of artists and thinkers.’
They continue, ‘On the exterior, the building is both recognizable and discreet, an architecture that fits into the neighborhood and only speaks when engaged. On the interior, the spaces are both communal and intimate, creating an environment for both contemplation and discourse for this new chapter of the ISP.’
Construction began in 2022, with the blessing of New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission, who recognised the historical significance of several features of the building, including the chandelier in the central stairway, ornamental metal details and a unique rail system that Lichtenstein created to hang his oversized paintings to dry. These all remain on the building’s first floor in tribute to both the artist’s and building’s legacy.
‘This is the most wonderful way to celebrate Roy’s legacy,’ says Dorothy Lichtenstein, president of the Roy Lichtenstein Foundation. ‘The ISP is such an extraordinary organization, and I am so proud to support it in any way possible. I am so pleased with the sensitive way the architects designed this space, which is so important to me, and was so important to Roy. It was his favourite studio, and I know he would be very happy.’
-
Audemars Piguet and Kaws have created the Royal Oak Concept watch we didn't know we neededThe Audemars Piguet x Kaws Royal Oak Concept Tourbillon 'Companion' is slick wrist-worn art
-
A friendly rivalry coloured by kinship: Wendy Maruyama and Tom Loeser on their two-artist show'I wanted to make furniture, just not traditional furniture, but weird furniture,' says Wendy Maruyama on ‘Colorama’, a two-artist show presented at design gallery Superhouse (until 11 January 2025)
-
Tranquil and secluded, Lemaire’s new Tokyo flagship exudes a sense of homeIn Tokyo’s Ebisu neighbourhood, Lemaire’s tranquil new store sees the French brand take over a former 1960s home. Co-artistic directors Christophe Lemaire and Sarah-Linh Tran tell Wallpaper* more
-
On a sloped Los Angeles site, a cascade of green 'boxes' offers inside outside livingUnStack, a house by FreelandBuck, is a cascading series of bright green volumes, with mountain views
-
This New York brownstone was transformed through the power of a single, clever moveVoid House, a New York brownstone reimagined by architecture studio Light and Air, is an interior transformed through the power of one smart move
-
A new Texas house transforms a sloping plot into a multi-layered family homeThe Griggs Residence is a Texas house that shields its interior world and spacious terraces with a stone and steel façade
-
Light, nature and modernist architecture: welcome to the reimagined Longwood GardensLongwood Gardens and its modernist Roberto Burle Marx-designed greenhouse get a makeover by Weiss/Manfredi and Reed Hildebrand in the US
-
A bridge in Buffalo heralds a new era for the city's LaSalle ParkA new Buffalo bridge offers pedestrian access over busy traffic for the local community, courtesy of schlaich bergermann partner
-
Tour this Bel Vista house by Albert Frey, restored to its former glory in Palm SpringsAn Albert Frey Bel Vista house has been restored and praised for its revival - just in time for the 2025 Palm Springs Modernism Week Preview
-
First look: step inside 144 Vanderbilt, Tankhouse and SO-IL’s new Brooklyn projectThe first finished duplex inside Tankhouse and SO-IL’s 144 Vanderbilt in Fort Greene is a hyper-local design gallery curated by Brooklyn studio General Assembly
-
Tour Ray's Seagram Building HQ, an ode to art and modernism in New York CityReal estate venture Ray’s Seagram Building HQ in New York is a homage to corporate modernism
