14.5m Renovation: New York City’s Jewish Museum Reopens Third and Fourth Floors
New York City’s Jewish Museum reopened its third and fourth floors on 24 October
following a year-long, $14.5 million renovation.
The project covers 20,000 square feet (about half the institution’s public space) and introduces new gallery layouts, education zones, and a luminous display of more than one hundred menorahs.
Modernising galleries to reflect a broader story
On the third floor, the renovation reconfigures the galleries with a breezier, more
interconnected layout designed by United Network Studio in Amsterdam and New Affiliates Architecture in New York. These spaces now present themed groupings of objects, from ancient artefacts to Abstract Expressionist paintings by Mark Rothko and Robert Motherwell, alongside work by living artists engaging queer and multicultural voices.
Within this floor the visitor can encounter the striking piece What We Bring (2023) by Andi Arnovitz: a wedding-dress-based installation from which thousands of laser-cut names of Jewish women – from Natalie Portman to Ruth Bader Ginsburg – flow forth.
The renovation also highlights Judaica and ceremonial objects similar to those made by
contemporary artists – see the Avi Nadav silver Judaica online, for example. The fourth floor includes a new display of 139 menorahs.
Learning and ritual objects
The fourth floor had been closed to the public but now opens as a vibrant zone anchored by the newly created Robert and Tracey Pruzan Center for Learning. Designed with children, families and educational programmes in mind, the centre features two art-studios, an interactive tactile wall, and even a simulated archaeological dig. The space shows the museum’s commitment to engaging younger audiences and presenting history for modern New Yorkers and tourists.
Also on the fourth floor is a dramatic installation of 139 Hanukkah lamps housed within a
50-foot-long vitrine overlooking a double-height gallery. The menorahs, drawn from the
museum’s collection of over 1,000 pieces, are said to reflect diverse cultures and stories of hope (per The Art Newspaper). There are lamps made of silver and stone forms, inspired by Roman tombs or Islamic art, constructions of deconstructed violins or plastic Statues of Liberty, and one crafted from bullet-casings and an artillery-shell by American soldiers in the Korean War. There’s also a “hefty” wooden example carved by a Turkish 15-year-old at a post-war orphanage in France.
Heritage architecture and modern gallery design
Located in the historic Felix M. Warburg House on Manhattan’s Upper East Side, the
Warburg mansion itself adds depth to the museum’s story. Built c. 1907–08 for financier
Felix M. Warburg in the château-style by architect C.P.H. Gilbert, the building stands at 1109 Fifth Avenue and represents one of the remaining grand residences of New York’s Gilded Age. The museum moved into the home in 1947 after Warburg’s widow donated it to the Jewish Theological Seminary of America; the museum has been evolving ever since. The Jewish Museum previously underwent a $36m renovation in 1993.
Preserving culture
With the refurbished floors now open, the Jewish Museum is designed to reach broader
audiences. As the museum continues to change within its historic walls, it keeps alive the ambitions of preserving Jewish cultural heritage and engaging the present moment.