101 SPRING STREET NEW YORK
Visitors Allowed: The late Artist Donald Judd's Extraordinary Home and Studio
It was 1968 when artist Donald Judd purchased 101 Spring Street, a 5-story cast-iron building in SoHo, New York for $68,000. The area was still rough and undesirable at this time, but Judd saw the potential and character in the neighbourhood and building.
Designed by architect Nicholas Whyte and constructed in 1870, to this day 101 Spring Street is the only intact, single-use cast-iron building remaining in SoHo. The former garment factory was the first building Judd bought, utilising it as a residence and studio.
8,500 feet of space over 5 floors and 2 basements, the building housed around 1,000 works of art and design collected or exchanged with friends. A Marcel Duchamp hangs in the hallway of the top floor, whilst Ad Reinhardt’s ‘Red Painting’ graces the second floor. The ground floor was often used for exhibitions, community and activist meetings, and performances, with the first floor holding art world dinner parties.
Judd hosted social gatherings because of his genuine curiosity for new ideas and exchange of knowledge and insight with his friends and contemporaries, such as Carl Andre, Vito Acconci, Dan Flavin, Barnett Newman, Claes Oldenberg and Coosje van Bruggen.
Judd’s innovative approach to the interiors of his house, saw artworks installed in unconventional places, with his concept of “permanent installation” whereby the placement of a work was critical to understanding the work itself.
In 2013, a $23 million renovation to restore the property and allow for safe visitation was completed. With Judd’s passing in 1994, his children Rainer and Flavin, oversaw the restoration with the guidance of instructions written in Judd’s 1989 essay ‘101 Spring Street’.
Judd explains, “My requirements were that the building be useful for living and working and more importantly, more definitely, be a space in which to install work of mine and of others. At first I thought the building large, but now I think it small; it didn’t hold much work after all. I spent a great deal of time placing the art and a great deal designing the renovation in accordance”.
101 Spring Street is open for guided tours by appointment only, with Judd Foundation ensuring works on view remain as they were installed by Judd prior to his death, including furniture and possessions left as Judd had left them whilst living there. A one-of-a-kind insightful experience into the lives of one of the greatest artists of our time.
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101 Spring Street – Judd Foundation
101 Spring Street,
New York, 10012
By Appointment Only
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