Harlem's New Studio Museum Building Celebrated In Ceremony

HARLEM, NY — Officials gathered on Tuesday across the street from the future home of the Studio Museum in Harlem, where construction is underway on an ambitious new headquarters for the 125th Street institution.

Tuesday's event was intended to mark "progress in the construction of The Studio Museum in Harlem's new home," the museum said in a news release.

Work began in early 2020 on the formidable six-story building, designed by star architect David Adjaye along with Cooper Robertson. Construction is underway after the museum demolished its former home on the same site: a century-old commercial building on West 125th Street near Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. Boulevard, which the museum had occupied since 1982.

The ceremony, held across the street from the construction site at the plaza of the Adam Clayton Powell Jr. State Office Building, included remarks by Adjaye, Mayor Bill de Blasio, Lieutenant Governor Brian Benjamin, and the museum's director and chief curator, Thelma Golden.

"It's going to be one of the must-see places in New York City," de Blasio said Wednesday, noting that the city has invested $62 million in the museum project over a span of several years.

Benjamin, himself a son of Harlem, said the new building would serve as "a pipeline for artists of African descent and will leave its mark in New York City as an important cultural landmark for decades to come."

Construction, which began several years behind schedule, will continue through 2022, according to the museum's website.