Setting a new precedent for architecture with its spiraling organic form, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, NY is one of the world’s most recognizable buildings. Designed by American architect Frank Lloyd Wright and completed in 1959, the construction of the Guggenheim Museum tested the capabilities of building technology at the time.

The Model

Video courtesy of Atomic Ranch (c) 2020 #AtomicRanch
Atomic Ranch reviewed our Guggenheim Museum kit.
Read the full review.

The swirling main building is fashioned from light Aspen wood and the newer tower of American Cherry. The kit’s precise adherence to the architect’s design ensures your completed model is as stunningly beautiful and iconic as the original.

The Guggenheim Museum kit comes with clear, easy to follow instructions and is the ideal gift for an any fan of art or architecture. It’s also a beautiful diversion for you to enjoy. It's a great model to start your collection of model landmarks (or give as a gift) and is especially suited for someone with limited experience in building models.  This model can be completed in one or two evenings but will provide years of pleasure.

If you'd rather enjoy the model without building it, you can purchase a professionally built (Pre-assembled). Go to our Finished Model page for more information.

Keep your model in pristine, dust-free condition with an acrylic case specifically designed for your model.  Go to our Acrylic Cases page for photos and ordering information.

Product Details

Each kit comes complete with all required parts and clear, easy to follow instructions. All you’ll need to provide is a good quality wood glue, a knife to remove individual parts from their sheets, and a flat work surface to construct the model.

Materials Aspen, American Cherry, MDF, And Acrylic

— Scale: 1:500

— Recommended Age: 12 & Up
— Difficulty Level: Beginner
— Assembly Time: 3 Hours
— Completed Dimensions: 6"L x 4.5"W x 3.5"H

Model by Little Building Co.  Click here to learn more about the artist behind this fine model.

Photo courtesy of one of our customers,  Larry S.

Curious about Buy with Prime?  Learn more on our FAQ page.

Solomon R Guggenheim, 1861 – 1949

In 1929 at age 66, wealthy industrialist Solomon R. Guggenheim began to collect modern paintings by artists such as Marc Chagall, Vasily Kandinsky, and Paul Klee. He was guided in this pursuit by young German artist and theorist Hilla Rebay, who had been hired by Solomon’s wife to paint his portrait. Encouraged by Rebay, Guggenheim opened the Museum of Non-Objective Painting in 1939. They soon resolved to build a “temple to non-objectivity” to house his growing modern art collection (which was then displayed in a rented townhouse on East 54th Street). In 1943 they commissioned architect Frank Lloyd Wright to design the new building. After Guggenheim’s death in 1949, the name of the museum was changed to the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum to honor his vision.

“I do not want to leave to my city just another museum.” - Solomon R. Guggenheim

Frank Lloyd Wright, 1867 – 1959

Frank Lloyd Wright grew up in Wisconsin and left high school before graduating to work in the University of Wisconsin’s engineering department. While there, he studied civil engineering before being apprenticed to architect Joseph Lyman Silsbee. In 1887, he took up a draughtsman position with Adler and Sullivan in Chicago. There he worked under Louis Sullivan, who has been called the father of modernism and some say was the inventor of the skyscraper. In 1893, Wright left Adler and Sullivan to open his own firm. Throughout his career, Wright sought to create buildings that would open up richer possibilities for their inhabitants, a testament to his idea that all buildings should liberate the life of the individual. He firmly believed that the architecture of the future could no longer act as a mere shell or shelter and instead proposed an alternative architecture designed from within outward, spacious and exuberant.

Wright died on April 9, 1959 at age 91, just six months before the Guggenheim museum that he designed opened. Wright’s building has shown us the potential that good architecture can have, not only to reflect its present, but to shape that present and its future.

“If one would get the essential character of an organic building ... it is wholly a matter of experience. One must be in the building before he can understand what makes it what it is ... The essence of organic building is space, space flowing outward, space flowing inward ... I conceived this plan ... to make the building and the painting as an uninterrupted, beautiful symphony such as never existed in the world of Art before.”- Frank Lloyd Wright, July 1958

More about the Guggenheim Museum

The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum is an internationally renowned art museum and one of the most significant architectural icons of the 20th century.  The signature spiral of the gallery, made of gun-placed concrete or “gunite” stands in contrast to the boxlike tower, which was envisioned by Wright but not built until 1992, during an extensive renovation.

It’s been said that the architect completed more than 700 sketches of the Guggenheim over the course of the project. While clearly more than “just another museum,” it may not be exactly what Wright envisioned. At least one of Wright’s early sketches showed the exterior of the building as red – not its signature creamy white – and the glass tube of an elevator he originally planned was not included in the final design. Wright also intended that visitors would see artworks displayed at an angle, as if perched on easels, but numerous artists objected and today works of art are hung flush against the walls.

Both during construction and for years after, the building’s form, inside and out, may have had as many detractors as fans. That probably wouldn’t have surprised Rebay, Guggenheim, or the architect himself. In a 1944 letter to the institute’s founders – his clients - Wright wrote that the museum would “either throw you off your guard entirely or be just about what you’ve been dreaming about.”

Testimonials