Morgan Library — 1975 five-story addition
Joseph's 1975 Morgan addition rose while the very same block was testing the legal limits of New York's young landmarks law; three decades later his addition was itself removed for Renzo Piano's expansion.
The Morgan's main building today. The 1975 addition Joseph's list records was demolished and is not pictured.
Current view · 2026 · Photo: Epicgenius · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Source
Why this project matters
- Project identity
- Verified
- Kelly connection
- Family source
- Masonry scope
- Probable
Rita’s list
Transcription: Morgan Library — 1975
Recorded by Rita Bartscherer · Bartscherer family record
KM-109
1 of two
“Morgan Library — 1975”
The adjacent 231 Madison house lost landmark protection after a 1974 Court of Appeals hardship ruling, although the planned office tower was never built. Joseph's Morgan addition followed in 1975.
Few projects show preservation as such a continuous process: landmark litigation beside the site in 1974, Joseph's new addition in 1975, and a later celebrated expansion that deliberately erased that addition.
What Kelly did here
Family source
Probable
Likely: selective masonry alteration/restoration: likely brick or stone repair/rebuilding, repointing, opening/infill work, plus new CMU/block backing or partitions where the renovation required them.
This scope is recorded as probable, not documented. It is a disciplined reading of the building and the trade practice of the period, not a contract-level record of Kelly’s work.
The construction team
- 01Architect
Platt, Wyckoff & Coles
What happened to it
Demolished
The Morgan continues to operate in the 2006 Renzo Piano campus, which doubled exhibition space and integrated its three historic buildings with three new pavilions.
Sources
3 citedOpen →
- 01themorgan.org
public institution
- 02nypap.org
geoffrey platt
- 03commons.wikimedia.org
File:Morgan Library Exteriors.jpg
- Epicgenius · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons · 2026-04-04
The Morgan's main building today. The 1975 addition Joseph's list records was demolished and is not pictured.
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