If luxury brands can diversify with their offerings, so can auction houses. Sotheby’s has opened Marcel, a French-continental restaurant inside the Breuer Building on Madison Avenue, in partnership with Roman and Williams, the design firm behind interiors of the Ace Hotel New York and La Mercerie. Named after Marcel Breuer, the Hungarian-American architect who designed the building in 1966, the restaurant occupies the lower level of what is now Sotheby’s New York headquarters, a building that previously housed the Whitney Museum of American Art and the Met Breuer.
The restaurant comes with a pedigreed kitchen, a wine program built on Sotheby’s auction house inventory, and rotating works of art on the walls that are, in many cases, actively for sale.
The restaurant reflects a broader shift in how Sotheby’s has been approaching its New York presence since taking over the Breuer in 2023. Rather than running the building purely as an auction and exhibition space, the house has been building it into a destination, with programs, public access, and now hospitality. Marcel is the most concrete expression of that direction.
Charles F. Stewart, Sotheby’s CEO, said, “The opening of Marcel marks another milestone in what has become a defining chapter for Sotheby’s in New York since our move to the Breuer last year. The restaurant adds a new dimension to the Sotheby’s experience, where our clients and friends can enjoy our exhibitions and an exceptional meal in a beautiful setting.”
This is not the first restaurant at an auction house though. While Christie’s has the Cafe Bar at its London headquarters, Sotheby’s has restaurants at its London and Paris locations as well.
On entering the lower level at Marcel, the building’s raw concrete exterior gives way to an entirely different atmosphere. Walnut-paneled walls, candlelit tables, dusty cocoa mohair banquettes, and an open kitchen set the tone. Roman and Williams designed custom lighting in cast bronze and cast glass sits alongside vintage fixtures Marcel Breuer himself had specified for the original interiors. A bar serves cocktails in handcrafted Japanese glassware. Outside, the building’s original sculpture garden has been turned into a full dining space with trees, sculptures, and an outdoor bar, creating a rare pocket of calm on Madison Avenue.
Robin Alesch, co-founder of Roman and Williams, said, “Marcel is the culmination of decades of work at the intersection of architecture, craft, art and hospitality. At the Breuer, we bring together fine art and culinary tradition in dialogue with one of New York’s great architectural landmarks. With Marcel, we hope to reignite the spirit of historic cultural restaurants as places for gathering, conversation, and exchange.”
Art on the walls here is not decoration. Works by Joan Mitchell, Andy Warhol, Alexander Calder, François-Xavier and Claude Lalanne form the inaugural installation, drawn from upcoming auctions, private sales, and special loans. Display cases hold jewelry by David Webb, Boucheron, and René Boivin, placed next to natural history objects including asteroid fragments and a Tyrannosaurus rex tooth. Marcel functions as a viewing room and a dining room at the same time.
Chef-partner Marie-Aude Rose leads the kitchen, a role she also holds at La Mercerie. Her menu is French in its foundations and broad in its range: confit de canard, gratin de cabillaud, lobster with roasted pineapple and turmeric-ginger cream, a côte de boeuf for two or four, and a midday sourdough tartine with French ham and comté. Rose describes her cooking as “a marriage of tradition and temptation,” and the menu reflects that, drawing on classical French technique without being stuck in it.
Sotheby’s Wine, which has been running dedicated wine auctions since 1970, shapes the drinks program. Mature vintages that don’t ordinarily appear on restaurant wine lists are part of the offer, drawn directly from the auction house’s existing inventory and relationships.
La Mercerie Patisserie runs as an all-day bakery and café within Marcel, overseen by pastry chef Rae Gaylord. Glazed madeleines, custardy flans in scalloped pastry, seasonal tarts, and savory open-faced croques made from croissant scraps make up the menu. Packaging in dusty blue, pale peach, and soft lavender carries the same level of care as the food itself.
Sotheby’s New York’s move to the Breuer gave the house a much larger and more prominent base to work from. Marcel, open for breakfast, lunch, and dinner at 945 Madison Avenue, is the latest addition to a building that has served three major cultural institutions across six decades.
