Todd Williams and Billie Tsien By Josef Birdman Astor

I read that Elizabeth Sargent, the last artist tenant holding out, left in August. Does that mean that it’s over at this point?
No artists or tenants remain. The studio towers are undergoing a mass-demolition – so yes, the great tradition of the Carnegie Studios is most sincerely dead. The last tenant to sleep there was the poet Elizabeth Sargent; the last tenant to move out was Editta ‘The Dutchess of Carnegie Hall’ Sherman. I was in Editta’s studio on her last day having a final toast with Donald Shirley, Christine Neubert and Elizabeth Sargent, and it was truly sad. Editta was the figurehead of the place, who had always insisted she would be there at age 100 (two more years) and that they would have to carry her out.

What has happened to the artists since?
Each has a different story. Some just closed up shop, others found alternative spaces, many are still in limbo. The rent control tenants have all relocated to high-rise apartment towers nearby. Quite a severe shift in lifestyle from the minimal domestic comforts they had in the Carnegie Studios. But the amenities in their new high-rises are meaningless to them; their community is gone. Editta Sherman was a resident in the Carnegie studios since 1949 and misses it terribly.

What strikes me is this wasn’t a major corporation making this decision; it was the city of New York, who owns the buildings.
I wish more people understood that. New York City owns the building and is the landlord.