Off Center

In her story on the expansion of the New Museum of Contemporary Art, the New York Times‘ Carol Vogel leads with a discussion of its bathrooms and the man who paid “in the six figures” to get naming rights for all four of them. “ I’m 83,” said Jerome Stern, a retired venture capitalist whose name will appear with his wife Ellen’s, “ and I thought it would be nice to see my name in a place where I’m going to spend a lot of time.”

Here at the Walker, naming rights for restrooms go back a bit further, to our 2005 expansion. Henry Kohring, son of Walker director Kathy Halbreich, is the namesake of one of the employee restrooms in the new Herzog & de Meuron wing. As Halbreich said when she announced her decision to leave the Walker, Henry was two years old when she began work here 16 years ago; he’s now a college student in Michigan. Like Stern, but in an entirely different sense, Henry has spent a lot of time at the Center.

The price for the naming rights: “In the three figures.”

iPotty: Restroom Ratings gives high marks to the Walker’s facilities and their “ Apple-meets-World Dryer Corp” aesthetic.