A seven-ton glass desk sets a Frank Gehry record

Frank Gehry's reception desk Icehenge sold at Freeman's in July 2026 for $243,200, setting an auction record for Gehry design objects and passing the $239,400 paid for a Fish Lamp at Phillips in 2021. The high estimate had been $200,000. Artnet News reported the result on 21 July 2026.

The object weighs seven tons and is assembled from sixteen pieces of rough-cut green glass, full of bubbles and distortions, produced by John Lewis Glass Studio. It was installed in 2012 in the lobby of Chicago's Inland Steel Building, in which Gehry had taken a stake during its 2005 refurbishment. The buyer has committed to maintaining public access and is considering a temporary museum loan, which is less generosity than practicality. The record matters as a category signal: fixtures prised out of buildings can now trade as autonomous works, which makes architectural interiors easier to dismantle.