McKim Building Restoration | Updates

Follow Jennifer Tonkovich, Curator of Drawings and Prints, as she provides behind-the-scenes updates for the restoration of the Morgan's 1906 McKim building. Learn more about the history of the McKim, which houses Mr. Morgan's library and study, as well as details of the restoration. We will also post photos so that you can witness the transformation as it takes place.

Play slide showOctober 14, 2010
Reinstallation in Mr. Morgan's Study

Before the restored furniture arrived, many cosmetic touches—such as the makeover of the bank-like manuscript vault—were carried out in Pierpont Morgan's Study. The velvet curtain shielding the vault was removed, the vault interior repainted, the original runner conserved and restored, and a new display was installed on the vault shelves. Visitors—now able to see fully inside the vault for the first time—will have a greater sense of the importance of this secret room.

Morgan needed a secure place to store high value manuscripts, books, and objects brought to him by dealers for consideration, and to house his most valued acquisitions, particularly medieval manuscripts. McKim designed this vault accordingly, lining it with steel and securing it with a bank vault door and combination lock. Manuscripts were kept there from Morgan's day until the building closed in 2003 for the museum's expansion project. Upon reopening in 2006, the precious volumes formerly stored in the West Room Chamber were relocated to a state-of-the-art subterranean vault designed by Renzo Piano. Now the vault in Morgan's Study will contain some of the original boxes that housed his manuscripts, along with several small bronze objects he purchased, and the massive tomes in which he published his many collections.

Furniture from Mr. Morgan's Study received a much-needed overhaul and was expertly reupholstered with fabric and trim that captures the effect of the original coverings and is consistent with Morgan's taste. Morgan's desk chair, two side chairs, and a settee were returned to Morgan's study, along with other furnishings, after the paintings were rehung.