YONKERS: Daniel Wolf, a celebrated photography collector and dealer who was married to the architect and sculptor Maya Lin, died on January 25 at his home in #Colorado.
In 2013, an old #YonkersJail located on downtown Alexander Street was purchased by the famed art collector and he got a deal, because it had been appraised at for $2.5 million. – but the final agreement was a drastically reduced price of $1 million that left taxpayers holding the bag.
Daniel Wolf and his wife, architect Maya Lin also got, which #Yonkers homeowners had to make up the difference.
In exchange for the favor, they intended to reuse the jail for offices, artists studios and an public exhibition / event space and further helped lower the final purchase price for Wolf and Lin would at $729,937.
Later an article appeared in the NY Times shared….
“Daniel Wolf, an art and photography dealer, and his wife, the artist and architect Maya Lin, thrilled local artists in 2013 when they bought the empty 1926 Yonkers City Jail.
Although the couple initially considered holding public events there, Mr. Wolf has found that he needs the entire building to store his collection.”Wolf also collected antiques and objects, including pre-Columbian furniture, Chinese bronzes, American prehistoric pottery, and more.
In an interview with the New York Times in 1998, Wolf and Lin discussed the ways in which their aesthetics, put on display in their New York home.“I’m excessively this, and she’s excessively that,” he told the Times.
“We love each other’s that, but we’re each inherently this.”
Among his accomplishments, Wolf played a crucial role in the development of the Getty Museum’s photography collection. A 1994 Los Angeles Times article describes how during the 1980s he “circled the globe for the Getty, methodically acquiring the most important photographs money could buy.
But Yonkers residents were taken for a ride by the two glob trotters, who promised the Yonkers Jail project would create 10-15 local construction jobs that never materialized.
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