If you’ve missed it, you should get over to the former TekServe space at 119 West 23rd Street and experience Poster House, the first U.S. museum dedicated solely to the poster.  This unique museum, right here in our NoMad neighborhood, not only has a terrific collection of over 7,000 examples of poster art including works by icons such as Milton Glasser and Shepard Fairley, but also the space is a stunner.  The museum design by tenant LTL Architects won the prestigious AIA NY Honors Award in the Interiors category.

New York, with its long relationship with advertising and design, did not have a public institution dedicated to the display of posters.   To fill this long-acknowledged gap in in the city’s cultural landscape, Poster House was founded in 2015, and after several years of planning and construction, the museum opened its doors on June 20, 2019.

Poster House’s collection contains examples from the earliest appearance of posters in the late 1800s, to their present-day use, and it’s the museum’s mission to engage and educate all audiences by investigating this large format graphic design medium and its public impact.  Perhaps no art form has such a tight bond with the public—in their presentation of new products, ideas, entertainment announcements, social developments, political movements, and more.  To get an idea of the range of exhibits at this great new resource, take a look at their past, current and upcoming exhibitions here.

The old TekServe space has been completely reimagined by LTL Architects to remind visitors that posters are supposed to be outside.  The first floor gallery extends through the length of the building, so as you walking down the length of the gallery, you get the sense of being on a street.  This effect can easily be imagined as one looks at the photos of the space.

LTL also designed the space to include several interactive spaces appealing to a range of ages, such as a Layer Station that breaks down a poster into the separate stages of its color printing, a full-wall whiteboard featuring a city street scene to be colored by visitors, and even a design-your-own poster digital experience.

LTL’s sleek design incorporates beautiful original features of the century old building such as exposed brick walls, barrel vaults, and cast-iron columns— harkening back to times closer to the early days of poster art.   We think you will find the overall effect of the 15,000 square foot space exciting and engaging—it’s a great collection in architectural gem.