Editing Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum (section)

==== Original building ====
{{Multiple image
| direction         = vertical
| total_width       = 250
| image1            = 5 Av Sep 2022 137.jpg
| caption1          = Main entrance on Fifth Avenue
| image2            = 5 Av Sep 2022 133.jpg
| caption2          = Ramp at the building's southwest corner
| image3            = 5 Av Sep 2022 145.jpg
| caption3          = Close-up of the monitor/Thannhauser Collection wing
}}

The museum's main entrance is at the center of the Fifth Avenue facade.<ref name=NYCL10 /><ref name=NPS6/> It consists of an aluminum-framed glass wall with several doors, recessed within a low foyer. A doorway directly in front of the entrance leads to the bookstore, while the museum galleries are accessed by doors to the right.<ref name=NYCL10/><ref name=NPS6>{{harvnb|National Park Service|2005|ps=.|p=6}}</ref><ref name=McCarter311>{{harvnb|McCarter|1997|p=311|ps=.}}</ref> Above the main entrance is a "bridge" connecting the main gallery and monitor building, which is supported by several lozenge-shaped [[Pier (architecture)|piers]].<ref name=NPS6/> The underside of the bridge contains recessed lighting that illuminates the main entrance.<ref name=NYCL10/><ref name=NPS6/> The main entrance was originally the entrance to a driveway that curved toward 89th Street, with separate entrances to the monitor and main gallery.<ref name=McCarter308/><ref name=NPS6/> The glass wall was installed after the driveway was closed in the 1970s, and the museum's bookstore was placed directly behind the wall.<ref name="NYCL pp. 12–13">{{harvnb|Landmarks Preservation Commission|1990|ps=.|pp=12–13}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|National Park Service|2005|ps=.|pp=6–7}}</ref> To the south of the main entrance is a curved wall, which forms the base of the main gallery.<ref name="NYCL pp. 10–11">{{harvnb|Landmarks Preservation Commission|1990|ps=.|pp=10–11}}</ref> There is a ramp adjacent to this wall, which leads to the basement auditorium.<ref name=NPS7/><ref name="NYCL pp. 10–11" />

At the southeast corner of the museum, on 88th Street, is a rectangular structure, which contains no openings except for five circular portals at ground level.<ref name=NPS6/><ref name=NYCL11>{{harvnb|Landmarks Preservation Commission|1990|ps=.|p=11}}</ref> The structure contains the museum's cafe, which was part of Wright's original plans but was not developed until 1992. The second floor of the rectangular structure contains the High Gallery.<ref name=NPS6/> Immediately to the east, on 88th Street, is an aluminum service gate with circular designs.<ref name=NPS6/><ref name=NYCL11/>

The bridge, which carries the Guggenheim's second story, projects at the museum's southwest corner. The museum's name stretches along the bottom edge of the bridge's Fifth Avenue facade.<ref name=NPS7/> The main gallery rises above the southern part of the bridge; it consists of a "bowl"-shaped massing, with several concrete "bands" separated by recessed aluminum skylights.<ref name=NYCL11/> From the street, the building looks like a white ribbon curled into a cylindrical stack, wider at the top than the bottom, displaying nearly all curved surfaces. Its appearance is in sharp contrast to the typically rectangular Manhattan buildings that surround it, a fact relished by Wright, who claimed that his museum would make the nearby [[Metropolitan Museum of Art]] "look like a Protestant barn".<ref name=time/> At the top of the "bowl" is a [[parapet]], which surrounds three smaller skylights, as well as the large twelve-sided dome atop the main gallery.<ref name=NYCL11/>

The northern part of the bridge contains a four-story wing, originally known as the monitor. Although the monitor's interior is cylindrical, its exterior contains different materials and shapes on each story.<ref name=NPS5/> The monitor's first two stories contain a round concrete facade,<ref name=NPS5>{{harvnb|National Park Service|2005|ps=.|p=5}}</ref><ref name=AR190>{{harvnb|Architectural Record|1958|ps=.|p=190}}</ref> while the upper two stories are cantilevered outward from the monitor's core.<ref name=AR190/> The third story contains rectangular aluminum windows with semicircular panes at their tops.<ref name=NYCL11/> The fourth story contains a square terrace and additional windows.<ref name=NYCL11/><ref name=NPS5/> Above the fourth story is a [[fascia]] with lozenge patterns, as well as a hexagonal roof with an aluminum frame. The roof is interrupted by a lozenge-shaped shaft, which contains a stairway.<ref name=NYCL11/><ref>{{harvnb|National Park Service|2005|ps=.|pp=5–6}}</ref>