The story
A shed, an island, a warehouse
- 1997The garden shed. In November 1997, Paulien Lethen put a Home Depot garden shed (the “Chelsea” model, 8 × 10 ft) in her Williamsburg backyard and hung a show in it for a neighborhood art-tour weekend. For the next ten years she ran a new show there every month. Only six people fit inside, so openings spilled into the parking lot next door, with jazz, rock and blues.
- 2000Paros. In July 2000, Holland Tunnel opened a second space on the Greek island of Paros, in an 18th-century Cycladic merchant's house in the old center of Parikia that Paulien bought with her sister, Dutch jazz pianist and vocalist Heleen Schuttevaêr. Every summer they open it for exhibitions, concerts, poetry readings, artist talks and drawing classes. More about Paros
- 2003Stairmasters. A third space in Williamsburg: an art installation up the four-flight staircase of the brownstone next to the gallery, with art from the ground floor to the top, including Delft Blues (125 ceramics by 50 artists) and Framed (110 artists). The Stairmasters shows
- 2018Newburgh. In May 2018, Holland Tunnel Gallery & Studios opened in an 1860 warehouse at 46 Chambers Street, between Broadway and First Street. The Williamsburg gallery closed in 2019, and Newburgh became Holland Tunnel's home.
- 2023A retrospective. Paulien showed a retrospective of her own work at the gallery.
- 2025Holland Tunnel Revisited. In August 2025, Reclamation: Lost and Found in Newburgh brought 24 artists to Chambers Street and launched Holland Tunnel Revisited, the gallery's current chapter.
- NowOpen every weekend. Exhibitions, music nights, Cinema Club films and private events, year-round at 46 Chambers Street.
