Todd Merrill Antiques Opens New 20th Century Shop
In Historic Louis Sullivan Building at 65 Bleeker Street

Todd Merrill Antiques has opened a new 4000 square foot shop focusing on American and European designer furniture and lighting from the 1920s through the 1980s, at 65 Bleecker Street in New York City. The new showroom is on the ground floor of the Bayard-Condict Building, New York’s only building by esteemed architect Louis Sullivan. The historic landmark space is located at the top of Crosby Street at the intersection of  Bleecker Street, and looks directly down into the heart of Soho.

Todd Merrill Antiques has been known for a glamourous and eclectic mix of 20th century furniture and lighting since 2000. Originally located in a 500 square foot space at the corner of Stanton and Ludlow on New York City’s Lower Eastside, the pioneering shop introduced and became renowned for massive scale Italian glass lighting by Venini, Vistosi, Barovier and Murano alongside unique decorative and custom mid-century American furniture by makers like Karl Springer, James Mont, Tommi Parzinger, Paul Lazslo, Paul Evans, LaVerne, Vladimir Kagan and many more.

The dramatic new showroom features Louis Sullivan’s original massive three-foot wide and sixteen foot high colums in stark white set against polished ebonized floors and pale grey walls. The showroom is a perfect backdrop for Todd Merrill’s gorgeous collection of vintage 20th Century Italian glass lighting and unique designer American and European furniture.

The shop’s unique aesthetic also includes a beautiful mix of French and Viennese Art Deco furniture and unique European mirrored pieces from the pre-war period mixed along side a selection of mid-century designer modern furniture by makers like Dunbar, Widdecomb and Grossfeld House.

Currently, Merrill is featuring a large selection of Italian furniture from the 1940s through the 1960s including pieces by Osvaldo Borsani, Ico Parisi, Gio Ponti, Aldo Tura, Fontana Arte and many more. The cross influence of European and American design is self-evident in the objects and the mix is harmonious and beautiful showing Gio Ponti alongside Kagan and Karl Springer with French Deco.

Todd Merrill grew-up steeped in the Antiques trade, and is third generation in the business. His family’s collecting passion was American furniture. Merrill believes the next great period in American Furniture is the postwar period where a flourishing of money, creativity and style in America’s great citys after WWII allowed mid-century designers to create outstanding decorative furnishings unlike anything seen before.

“American and especially New York City saw a huge wave of European design talent and homegrown designers returning home to a postwar boom. Never before has there been such a diverse flourishing of design focusing on exotic influences brought back from around the world combined with the relatively new concepts of modern design and the space age,” states Merrill. “What was produced in America from the late 1940s through the early 1980s by designers like James Mont, Paul Evans and Karl Springer is astounding and could only have happened here. I am fascinated by and love to explore this last great undocumented period in Americana.”

Todd Merrill’s shop is based on the ability to mix connoisseurship with style and creativity. “We are striving to explore and establish new areas of collecting and appreciation of 20th century design, and will continue to present the best and most unusual in 20th Century American decorative arts as well as correlating design influences from contemporary European designers, says Merrill. 

By opening Todd Merrill Antiques, Merrill carries on the tradition of his grandparents Nathan and Margaret Merrill who founded Ethan Allen Antiques in the 1930s, and his father Duane Merrill, who started Merrill & Company Auctions. Todd Merrill was the director of Public Relations at Christie’s New York and a founding executive of auctions.com.

Todd Merrill Antiques is located at 65 Bleecker Street (at Crosby) between Lafayette and Broadway. The showroom is open Monday through Saturday from 10 AM to 7PM and by appointment on Sundays by calling (212) 673-0531. Please visit www.merrillantiques.com to view a selection of our inventory. Todd Merrill Antiques also provides rental services for media productions.

For further information on Todd Merrill Antiques or to visit or interview Todd Merrill, please contact Christina Juarez at Christina Juarez & Company 212 481 9122 or via email at cjuarez@cjandco.com