On a single block of West 25th Street, between Tenth and Eleventh avenues, one of the largest galleries in the world is looking for a tenant to share its building. A London and Baku dealer just opened in a former Marlborough Gallery space. A new namesake gallery opened two doors down.
Taken together, those moves describe a gallery district that is being re-tenanted, room by room, and not emptied. This fall the clearest view of it comes from walking the block. Many of the current shows close on the same Saturday, October 24, so the next two weeks catch the transition while it is still on the walls.
Two Doors Apart on West 25th Street
The Art Newspaper reported in mid-September that Gazelli Art House, a 16-year-old gallery based in London and Baku, chose the former Marlborough Gallery space at 545 West 25th Street for its US expansion. It opened with a group exhibition drawn from its international roster, including Agil Abdullayev, Brendan Dawes, Derek Boshier, Memo Akten, Pauline Boty and the Recycle Group. Founder and chief executive Mila Askarova told the publication she sees New York as a "natural next step" for the gallery.
Two doors away, at 555 West 25th Street, Victoria Mouraux Durand-Ruel opened her namesake gallery with black-and-white photographs by Lucien Clergue. The show includes his nudes shot on the beaches of southern France and his portraits of Pablo Picasso in Provence. She is a descendant of Paul Durand-Ruel, the Parisian dealer known for championing the Impressionists. She told The Art Newspaper that Chelsea was the "obvious choice since it's where the contemporary gallery community is today." The Clergue exhibition runs September 22 through October 17, which makes it the first of this season's new-gallery debuts to close.
Pace's eight-story headquarters is on the same block, at 540 West 25th Street. What is happening inside that building explains why the two newcomers' timing matters.
What Pace Is Changing, and What It Is Not
ARTnews reported on September 28 that Pace is looking for a tenant to take one or more parts of its Chelsea headquarters. A Pace spokesperson confirmed the plan and said the space in question "is not part of the gallery's public areas and is not used by artists, collectors, or visitors, so there will be no impact on our exhibitions, programs, or visitor experience."
For a neighbor, then, the exhibitions stay open to the public, and the space on offer sits outside the public areas. Per ARTnews, the move follows a June restructuring in which Pace cut more than 50 artists from its roster and reduced staff by about 20 percent. It also put its 8,600-square-foot Hanover Square gallery in London on the rental market. ARTnews also relayed a Financial Times report that the New York building's rent was said to be $9 million a year, a figure CEO Marc Glimcher neither confirmed nor denied.
The building opened in 2019. It was designed by Bonetti/Kozerski Architecture during what ARTnews calls the height of the mega-gallery expansion era. Glimcher dated the thinking behind it in an interview with the Financial Times, as quoted by ARTnews.
"That building was what I call a 2015 decision."
Down the block, the newcomers are expanding in. Gazelli's US debut came by moving into a room Marlborough had used, and the reports don't say when or why Marlborough left. Mouraux Durand-Ruel chose the same stretch for her namesake gallery. On one block, a gallery is paring back its building while two others are opening their doors.
West 20th Street Swaps One Dealer for Another
Five blocks south, the same pattern shows up with a different cast. Garth Greenan Gallery left its longtime West 20th Street address for two storefronts facing each other on Greene Street in SoHo. The Art Newspaper's piece places that move inside a broader story about SoHo's rising appeal for dealers.
The block didn't stay one gallery short for long. 47 Canal, the closely watched gallery whose name comes from its origins where Chinatown meets the Lower East Side, opened at 529 West 20th Street, on what The Art Newspaper calls Greenan's old block. Its first Chelsea show is a solo exhibition by Cici Wu, on view September 24 through November 7.
The Art Newspaper's subhead for the Chelsea section of its report is "Chelsea's enduring appeal," and it cites these arrivals as the evidence. Counted by address, Chelsea lost one dealer to SoHo and gained three newcomers in September alone.
The Calendar Turns Over on October 24
The newcomers aren't the only reason to go soon. The established galleries line up their fall closings almost to the day, and the biggest cluster lands on Saturday, October 24.
| Gallery | Address | Exhibition | Closes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mouraux Durand-Ruel | 555 W. 25th St. | Lucien Clergue | October 17 |
| Gagosian | 555 W. 24th St. | Jordan Wolfson | October 24 |
| Gagosian | 541 W. 24th St. | Deana Lawson | October 24 |
| Pace | 540 W. 25th St. | Lynda Benglis, KNOTTING, TYING, FOLDING | October 24 |
| Pace | 540 W. 25th St. | Torkwase Dyson, Seeing in Blue | October 24 |
| Pace | 540 W. 25th St. | Jackson Pollock, Intimate Legacy | October 24 |
| Pace | 540 W. 25th St. | Arlene Shechet, She Said She Said | October 24 |
| 47 Canal | 529 W. 20th St. | Cici Wu | November 7 |
| Gagosian | 522 W. 21st St. | Brice Marden, I Am Plane Image | December 12 |
Pace's four exhibitions all opened September 11 and all close October 24. Gagosian's Wolfson show opened September 18 and its Lawson show September 10, according to the gallery's site. Gazelli's opening group exhibition has no published closing date in the sources we reviewed, so check with the gallery before planning around it.
So for the next 12 days, one walk covers a set of shows that mostly opened together and will mostly come down together. That includes the Pollock and Benglis shows inside the building now looking to share its space. The Marden show at 522 West 21st Street runs until mid-December and is the one that can wait.
A Route That Ends on the High Line
The addresses sit close enough together for one unhurried afternoon. Walking south to north:
- 529 West 20th Street. Start with Cici Wu at 47 Canal, the newest name on the block Garth Greenan left.
- 522 West 21st Street. Brice Marden, I Am Plane Image, at Gagosian. It's the one show here that runs past Thanksgiving.
- 541 and 555 West 24th Street. Deana Lawson and Jordan Wolfson at Gagosian's two West 24th Street galleries, both closing October 24.
- 540, 545 and 555 West 25th Street. Pace's four shows, then Gazelli Art House in the former Marlborough space, then Mouraux Durand-Ruel. The full re-tenanting story fits on one block.
- The High Line at 30th Street. Climb up and head north to Interlude, a new commission by Marianna Simnett. It is two sculptural concession stands with screens showing stadium-food vendors at work. Friends of the High Line lists it on view from September 2026 through August 2027, so it will outlast every gallery show on this list.
From 30th Street, the High Line runs back south through the neighborhood. A logical last stop is near its southern end: Bar CC, a walk-in cocktail bar at 85 10th Avenue near West 15th Street that opened September 25. It comes from chef Melissa Rodriguez, restaurateur Jeff Katz and Tao Group Hospitality, with Harrison Ginsberg as beverage director, according to Eater NY.
The Same Saturday Has a Family Version
October 24 is also the date of High Line Halloween: Gnome-topia, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the park's 14th Street section. The program includes games, a magic show, face painting, a DJ and candy. The High Line says the event moves to October 31 if extreme weather intervenes. A household can split the day. The gallery walk on West 24th and 25th streets covers the closing shows, and the High Line's southern end hosts the gnomes. The two are linked by the same elevated path.
For anyone who wants a food stop on the way down, Alleva Dairy returned at Chelsea Market, 75 Ninth Avenue, on September 13. The Italian deli dates to 1892 and is back with sandwiches, house-made mozzarella, prepared foods and cannoli, per Eater NY. It is one more case this fall of an established name taking up a room in Chelsea again.
When the space around a home changes, whether that's a gallery moving into a former dealer's room or a flagship looking for a tenant to share its building, it changes how that home's surroundings read to a future buyer. If you'd like to talk through what Chelsea's shifting gallery map means for a residence you own or are considering, the Michael Graves Team welcomes you to schedule a private consultation.
