On January 23, 2020 a fire destroyed the iconic building at 70 Mulberry street in the heart of Manhattan’s Chinatown.  The building was also home to MOCA’s collections and research center, where the entirety of our 85,000+ archives were stored. Fortunately the fire never reached our archives but the thousands of gallons of water needed to put out the flames did. 

Initially we feared that everything was lost but with the guidance, support, and aid of several New York City agencies and over 400 volunteers—MOCA  was able to recover 95% of the archives. We would like to express our heartfelt gratitude to all the volunteers and agencies who reached out, answered our call, and generously donated their time during MOCA’s time of need. Special thanks go to the Archives of the City of New York (DORIS), the Alliance for Responding to New York City (AFRNYC), the New York City Department of Citywide Administrative Services (DCAS), A.M. Art Conservation, Polygon, and TERS.

Even though the collections were professionally freeze-dried or desiccated immediately after being rescued, 73% of the items still sustained varying degrees of damage. This estimate is based on a survey of 52,058 objects salvaged from the fire, conducted by conservation experts from A.M. Art Conservation under contract with MOCA.

For the past five years, MOCA’s collection had been temporarily housed at 3 Howard Street, which had served as the center for the museum’s ongoing fire recovery and conservation efforts. However, due to high rental costs and the need for a more sustainable long-term solution, MOCA’s Collections Research Center—also known as the MOCA Chen Yuhui Workshop—will relocate to the second floor of the museum’s main building at 215 Centre Street in late 2024.