Paul Rudolph’s Modulightor Building

Paul Rudolph and Ernst Wagner bought 246 East 58th Street in 1989. At the time, Rudolph and Wagner had been friends for almost 20 years.  

Originally a commercial, nondescript structure, Rudolph wanted to create a special environment and, most importantly, a contribution to the urban landscape. The original building was torn down and Rudolph proposed a multipurpose building with a ground floor, mezzanine and several sub-basements as a showroom and production facility for MODULIGHTOR, a lighting company he founded over a decade before with Ernst Wagner.  The floors above were planned as rental apartment units, to provide supplemental income when his architectural practice was low on work.

The project suffered several delays and revisions due to the economic times and changes to building and zoning codes.  In response, Rudolph became his own client, architect and contractor in order to provide every resource to complete the project.  This included relocating his office into the building while it was under construction and having his staff supervise day laborers which Rudolph would hire off the street.

As a result, the Modulightor building stands out as a very personal effort, drawing on themes he explored throughout his career and as an example of his unwillingness to compromise his design aesthetics for what would normally be considered a speculative retail and investment project.

We welcome architecture & design students, scholars, and architectural enthusiasts to visit and experience Rudolph’s artistry in the handling of architectural form, interior space, and light.

The building includes MODULIGHTOR’s ground-floor showroom (plus a second floor prototyping area and a fabrication center on three basement floors — the fixtures are assembled in-house!). Most notable — and frequently visited — is the amazing, light-filled Duplex apartment on the 3rd and 4th floors, which was designed by Rudolph.

By appointment, student and private tours are available for a contribution to support the Paul Rudolph Institute For Modern Architecture (www.paulrudolph.institute). By reservation, the Paul Rudolph Institute also hosts a public Paul Rudolph Open House twice a month. To learn more and find the next open house date, please go here.