Projects by Name

Breuer’s acclaimed design for the Whitney Museum of American Art garnered him additional commissions including the new education wing for the Cleveland Museum of Art. The original neoclassical museum was constructed in 1896 with a small temple portico marking the entrance. Local architect Paul Ruth added a U-shaped wing in 1958. Breuer’s addition contained flexible, open plan galleries capable of exhibiting large-scale works, spaces for the education and music departments, classrooms, lecture halls and an auditorium. The building has no windows, but Breuer clad the structure in stripes of light- and dark-gray granite bonded to the underlying concrete and reminiscent of medieval Italian cathedrals. Ruth’s wing was also clad in this material to visually distinguish the later additions from the original structure. Breuer and his partner Hamilton Smith were careful to match the floor levels to those of the older buildings, providing seamless access between old and new. Perhaps the most dramatic element of the design was the 115-foot concrete canopy cantilevered over the entrance.