THEN

This row house was home to the abstract painters Robert Motherwell and Helen Frankenthaler for about a dozen years. Motherwell purchased this late 1870s structure in 1953. During this period he taught at Hunter College and produced some of his best-known paintings and collages. Motherwell and Frankenthaler married in 1958.  Their works were large in scale and both artists maintained studios within walking distance of their home. James Baker, an architect associated with Peter Blake, renovated their residence in 1967, adding the current minimalist facade. Divorced in 1971, Frankenthaler sold the house in 1999.