Guggenheim News Flash: Landmarks Preservation Commission Preserves Familiar Exterior Color

The Guggenheim…Unpainted
Traditionalists rejoice: The restored exterior of the Guggenheim Museum will not be buffed with Powell Buff after all.
So decreed the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission today in a 7-2 vote. Sewell Chan reported this afternoon on the NY Times‘ City Room blog that the commission’s public meeting today included a presentation by Tom Krens, director of the Guggenheim Foundation, who stated that the off-white color “commonly associated with the building…seems to work well” with the surrounding buildings and with the 1992 museum addition.
Powell Buff, more yellow than the off-white we now associate with the Guggenheim’s famous exterior, was said to be the hue favored by Frank Lloyd Wright, the museum’s architect.