About Poster House

Front of Poster House in the daytime. Passersby walking on the sidewalk outside the concrete exterior with black trimmed windows.

Mission and History

Poster House is dedicated to presenting the impact, culture, and design of posters, both as historical documents and methods of contemporary visual communication.

Through temporary exhibitions, a growing permanent collection, and educational events, Poster House explores the enormous impact of posters on society and culture, and how they have been adapted to contemporary use. As the first poster museum in the United States, Poster House provides a space for inquiry for all those interested in design, advertising, and public interventions, with an aim to improve design literacy among the general public.

Posters explore:

  • mass communication and persuasion
  • the intersection of art and commerce
  • control of the public domain

Poster House was founded in 2015 with an eye towards filling a long-acknowledged gap in the New York cultural landscape for accessible art and design. After several years of planning and construction, Poster House opened its doors on June 20, 2019.

Poster House is proud to receive support from the New York State Council on the Arts and the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council.

Logo for the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs

Logo for New York State Council for the Arts

Poster House is an affiliate member of the International Vintage Poster Dealers Association.
Logo for IVPDA international vintage Poster dealers association


People


Val Crosswhite
Board President
Angelina Lippert
Executive Director & Curator
Colin Brady
Deputy Director
Ola Baldych
Director of Design & Exhibits
Bryce Armijo
Marketing Manager
Shaquille Bailey
Event Producer
Randee Ballinger
Designer
Joseph Brichacek
Director of Retail
Sarit Cahana
Accessibility Coordinator
Angelie Cesario
Education Programs Coordinator
Mihoshi Fukushima Clark
Assistant Director of Design & Project Manager
Aaron Cohen
Chief Technology Officer
Rebecca Darling
Shop Manager
Samantha Hirsch
Director of Education
Braden Hollis
Family and School Programs Museum Educator
Es-pranza Humphrey
Assistant Curator of Collections
Gabriella Kula
Museum Educator
Robert Leonardi
Museum Fabricator
John F. Lynch
Associate Director of Exhibits
Erin McCarty
Part-Time Designer
Rayyan Mikati
Museum Educator
Salvador Muñoz
Director of Public Programs
Melanie Papathomas
Registrar
Jossie Rivera
Bilingual Museum Educator
Schuyler Schuler
Senior Manager of Education Programs
Madeleine Schulz
Membership Manager & Head of Partnerships
Alex Stern
Junior Cataloguer
Maya Varadaraj
Museum Educator

Gail Anderson
Chair, BFA Design & BFA Advertising; Creative Director, Visual Arts Press, SVA
Brandi Boatner
Social & Influencer Communications Lead, Global Markets, IBM
Myrna Davis
Executive Director Emeritus, Art Directors Club
Elizabeth Guffey
Professor of Art and Design History, SUNY Purchase
Steven Heller
Co-founder and Co-chair of MFA Designer as Author Program, SVA; Author
Eve Kahn
Design Historian, Former Antiques Columnist at the New York Times
Nicholas Lowry
President, Swann Auction Galleries
Ellen Lupton
Design Chair, MICA; Curator Emerita, Cooper Hewitt
Chad Phillips
Retail Executive
Tim Rodgers
Director, Museum of Art & Design
Paula Scher
Partner, Pentagram
Alexander Tochilovsky
Curator, Herb Lubalin Study Center of Design and Typography, Cooper Union
Michele Washington
Design Critic, Writer, Designer, Professor at FIT

The CMYK Council is a volunteer advisory board of creatives, designers, and educators who provide feedback and work on Poster House programming.

Antonio Alcalá
Creative Director, Studio A / Art Director, Stamp Development, USPS
Gail Anderson
Chair, BFA Design & BFA Advertising; Creative Director, Visual Arts Press, SVA
Douglas Davis
Strategist / Author / Professor of Design, New York City College of Technology
Rafael Esquer
Principal & Creative Director, Alfalfa Studio
Sherina Florence
Global GCD, Instagram and Unilever
Dian Holton
Deputy Art Director, AARP Media, Art Director, TheGirlfriend.com + Sistersletter.com
John Kudos
Partner, KASA Collective and KUDOS Design Collaboratory / Board of Directors, TDC
Pablo A. Medina
Artist / Designer, Design is Culture
Franc Nunoo-Quarcoo
Professor of Design, University of Michigan / Penny W. Stamps School of Art & Design
Jennifer Rittner
Faculty, SVA
Sharif Tassy
CRM Administrator, General Assembly / Tech Enthusiast
Maya Varadaraj
Committee Lead / Interdisciplinary Artist / Educator, Poster House
David Jon Walker
Assistant Professor, Austin Peay State University / Owner, Rhealistic Design Group
Michele Washington
Design Critic, Writer, Designer, Professor at FIT
Kelly Walters
Assistant Professor of Communication Design, Parsons School of Design
Zipeng Zhu
Artist / Creative Director / Founder, Dazzle Studio

Founding Members

Our Founding Members supported us from the very beginning, becoming a part of the Poster House Family before we even opened our doors. We are incredibly pleased to recognize their generosity and commitment.
 

Willis & Claudia Allen
Eric & Amanda Chiappinelli
Robert Chisholm & Lars Larsson
Chris T. Concannon
Peter Kahane
Linda Knight
Diane B. Lippert
Nicholas Lowry
Andrew Merz
Jack Rennert
George Sells
Eric Strobel
Mark & Barbara Suckle
Swann Auction Galleries
Dawn Baillie
Ola Baldych & Josh Lawrence
Katherine & Gary Bartholomaus
Todd Canterbury
Suzanne Chisholm
Virginia Clark
Jean-Daniel Clerc
Arlene Fauser
Jean Jones
KUDOS Design Collaboratory
Jameson Kung
Jim Lapides
Michael Lifschultz
Lauren Miller Walsh
John Morning
Vincent Ng
David Pollack
Marjorie R. Culver
Bellamy Schmidt
Shelley & Bennett Schmidt
The Skirbunt Family
Susan Termohlen
Richard Toomey
Robert P. Torretti
Kathy Valko
Dave Williams
Philip Williams
Nancy Wolff
Daniel Beth and Haley Spitz
Amanda Comperchio
Ahmed Abdel-Latif
Neale M. Albert
Joel Alter & Jennifer Tong
Mariano Alvarez
Mark H. Amitin
Gail Anderson
Adrienne Angelo
Michael Angelo
Everett Anton Singer
Caroline Applegarth
The Steven Ausnit Revocable Trust
Alisa Aydin
Joanne Baer
H Ted Bahr
Christian Barillas
Frank Baseman
Karl Beck
Andrew Beckman
Andrew Bencsko III
Sharon Berardino
Betsy Bieler
Merv Bloch
Stephen Bluto
Danuta Boczar
Sherwin Borsuk
Anne L. Bradford
Philip K. Bradford
Liz & George Brandley
Karin Briller
Conner Bryan
Russell Calabrese
Sophia Calderone
Chris Calori
Trevor Carmick
Becky Carpenter
Monica Carter
Kenneth Chanko
Patricia Childers
Paul Christenson
Amanda Cifone
Lyle Cohen
Joanna Cohlan
Barbara S. B. Collins
Patrick Collins
Alletta Cooper
Amanda Cordner
Stephen Cup
Maryanne D. Olson
Zal Dabhoiwala
Michelle Demeter
Robert Depczenski
Mary Lynn Dermott
Clare DeZutti
Alice Dickinson
Juliano Domingues
Richard Dorfman
Norbert Drey
Robert Duane
Stephen Durkee
Robyn Dutra
Erin Edwards
Shiva Eftekhari
Muriel Light Egan
Patricia Elaine
Bettie Elghanian
Phyllis Elliott
Jeffrey Ellis & Lisa Mercer
Matthew Ellis
Claudia Rose Emerson
Anthony B. Engel
Ashley Epping
Cameron Etheredge
Adam Evans
Heidi Evans
Joey Falsetta
Anthony J. Ferrara
Cole Ferry
Sidney Fillipi
Alan Fiore
Stephen Fontana
Jacob Ford
Jason Forman
Rudy Franchi
Daniel Frohwirth
Eileen Galen
George Garrastegui
Jennifer Weber
Andrew Garvin
Martin Gee
Howard Gelman
Gila Gevirtz
Christopher Gibson & Lisa Hindmarsh
Pete Gibson
Ken Godat
Rachel Gogel
Amy Goldman
Jeffrey Goldstein
Solomon Goldstein & Rhoda Metzger
John Gotman
Sharon Greytak
Maneka K. Grewal
Mary Lee Grisanti
Erik Gudowski
Nanci Guerra
Susan Hadden
Martha Hagood
Camille Hall
Gregory Hamilton
Max Hamlin
David A. Hanks
Jeffrey Hantover
Constance S. Harris
Brian Harwell
Chris Haske
Christian Havemeyer
Patti & Dave Hegland
Christian Henkel
Leslie Herman
Tanja Herron
Jodi Hirsch
Sharon Horowitz
Paul Isaac
Shigemichi Ishitani
Mark J. Weinbaum
Rob Jackson
Bharat Jalan
Anthony John Bonner
Heather Jones
Allen Joslyn
Jody Kamen
Deby Kanner
Rebecca Kaplan
L Mohun Kapur
David Karp
Greg Katz
Allen Kaufman
Jonathan King
Lillian Kirch
Zeynep Kiris
Alex Knowlton
Steven Kowalik
Andrew Krivine
John Labozza
Carl S. Laise
Juliett G. Lam
Alison Lands
Scott Laserow
Nancy Lasher
Patrick Lavilla
Nancy LeaMond
Laura Lendrum
Kristin Leu
Steven Leung
Sandra Levinson
Eric Leyton
Claire Lieberwitz
Fiona Lin
Blake Livingston
Judy Loeb Goldfein
Emily Long
Dorothy Loper
Alexis Lovely
David Lowden
Curt Lund
Leslie Luxemburg
Elizabeth Manzi
Silvia Marquez Pease
Ralph Martinez
Alfra Martini
June Masuda
Devin Mathis
Jane Maxwell
David McCarthy
Karl McCobb
Cinnamon McCullum
Genevieve McGillicuddy
Nicholas Mcguire
Amy McNamara
Holly McWhorter
Matt & Jennifer Mecs
Tim Medland
Elizabeth Meggs
Adam Meisel and Agata Kowalski
Katya Mezhibovskaya
Zac Mitchum
Thomas Mohan
Jacob Morris
Lisa Marie Mraz
John & Josephine Murphy
Dave Nadel
Tom Napper
Giovanni Negron
David Neill
Amy Neiman
Daniel X. O’Neil
Sean O’Neill
Katherine Olney
Orange Sparkle Ball
Glenn Pajarito
Issela Palacios
Jason Pamental
Crystal Paris
Jameson Parker
Meredith R. Perlman
Alan Pettingill
Phong Phong
Caterina Y. Pierre
Beth Player-DiCicco
Donald Pogoloff
Daniel Prada
Katherine Prior
Leslie Pule
Francisco Quesada
John Rankin
Gillian Redfern
Erin Reese
Elizabeth Resnick
Hilke Richards
Harlan Rips
Frank Rivera
Stephanie Robinson
Mickey Ross
Jonathan Rowley and Joseph Truong
Wanda Rubin
Elliot Safra
Richard G. Safran
Bernard Salanie
Ina Saltz
Rob Saunders
Thelonia Saunders
Sal Scamardo
Lars Schmidt
Alexander Schneider
Heike Schneider
John Schobel
Berncie Schoenbaum
Ann Schoenfeld
Michael Schussler
Pearls Schwartz
Claire Shapiro
Cliff Shapiro & Jeffrey Hart
Nancy Shor
Rubin and Erica Shur
Ariel Silverman
Travis Simpson
Karen Wade Smiley
Kevin Smith
Zachary Sniderman
Gail Spangenberg
Shanti Sparrow
Saul Spicer
Abigail Starr
Judith Steckler
Mark Stevens
Thor Stockman
Jack Strain
Peter Stults
Ken Sutak
Richard Sutor
Marion Lear Swaybill
Terri Talbert
Don Tancredo
Gerald Thamm
Jet The Guy
Yen-Li Thompson
Joy Tiyasirichokchai
Logan Tracey
Tani Trentlyon
Joseph Truong
Winston Tseng
Anne Turner
Michael Tutko
Erica Udoff
Tory Van Dine
Joseph Van Jura
Sarah Vassallo
Katharina Volk
Nina Wallace
Sandra K .Wasserman
Cary Weissman
Craig Welsh
Catriona Werth
Greg Wetzel
Jane Wichern
William D. Wick
William Willis
David Willmon
Donna Wilson
Larry Winderbaum
Norman Wittlin
Ernie Wolfe III
Jodi Yellen
Laurie Yosha
Ben Yousey-Hindes
Leonard Zax
Marcin Zeglinski

The Building

119 West 23rd Street was built around 1901 by The National Cloak Company. At ten stories, the building was quite tall for its day, and housed several publishing firms, including George Routledge & Sons.

Later in the 1920s, stationers and mail-order companies moved into 119, followed by novelty manufacturers around the 1950s. But today, the building is best known for being the former home of Tekserve (1987–2016), an Apple repair store that was iconic to New Yorkers for its jam-packed decor and unparalleled service.

In 2018, LTL Architects took on the gut-renovation of the almost 15,000 square foot space over two floors. The design considers that posters are intended for the street, and uses the length of the space to evoke a sidewalk, playing with industrial materials. Gesturing to the space’s history, the design incorporates several existing features including the exposed brick walls, barrel vaults and cast-iron columns. These elements create a dialogue with the new architecture, blending old and new, playful and serious, and embody an embrace of the poster’s unique identity as both commerce and art, public information and cultural artifact.

About LTL Architects
LTL Architects (Lewis.Tsurumaki.Lewis) is an award winning, design-intensive architecture firm founded by Paul Lewis, Marc Tsurumaki, and David J. Lewis, and is located in New York City. LTL engages a diverse range of work, from large scale academic and cultural buildings to interiors and speculative research, realizing inventive solutions that turn the constraints of each project into the design trajectory, exploring opportunistic overlaps between space, form, and materials. LTL Architects was inducted in 2019 to Interior Design’s Hall of Fame.