A monument to modernism, the unique architecture of the space, with its spiral ramp riding to a domed skilight thrills visitors and provides a unique forum of the presentation of contemporary art. In the words of Paul Goldenber ''Wright's building made it socially and culturally acceptable for an architect to design a highly expensive intensely personal museum. In seance almost every museum of our time is a child of the Guggenheim".
Frank Loyd Wright's original plans for the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum called for a ten-story tower behind the smaller rotunda to house galleries, offices, workrooms, storage and private studio apartments. Largely for financial reasons Wright's proposal tower was unrialised. Gwathmey Siegel & Associated Architects revived the tower plan with its eight-story annex, which incorporates the foundation and frames of a smaller 1968 annex designed by Frank Loyd Wright's son-in-law William Wesley Piters.
In !990 the Wright building was closed to the public to enable the examination and major interior restoration. The restoration opened the entire building to the public for the first time converting spaces that had been used for storage and offices into galleries. The restored and expanded museum reopened in 1992 and the project became one of the firm's most celebrated and critically acclaimed works. It contains 4,750
sq m of new renovated gallery space,130 sq m of new office space, a restored restaurant and retrofitted support and storage spaces
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