Museum of the City of New York Opens Renovated Floor

The Museum of the City of New York on Wednesday opened the third floor of its South Wing, part of a $93 million renovation. The wing was inaugurated with “Making Room: New Models for Housing New Yorkers,” an exhibition featuring the winner of a recent city-sponsored design competition for small apartments and presenting a full-scale, furnished micro-studio apartment.

The museum has completed its renovation in phases â€" the third floor is part of the second â€" to avoid closing during the work (the first phase was completed in 2008). Galleries on the first, second and third floors of the Museum’s South Wing now include modern, climate-controlled exhibition spaces that meet current conservation standards.

The South Wing also has two newly named galleries. The Puffin Foundation Gallery, on the second floor, focuses on social activism in New York. The Tiffany & Co. Foundation Galler, on the third floor, will open this fall with the exhibition “Gilded Age New York.”

“This building was built in 1932,” said Susan Henshaw Jones, the museum’s director, in a telephone interview. “The heating system gave way some time ago. It was very much overdue and we look forward to having it completely finished.”