39 Fifth Avenue

Built in 1922, 39 Fifth Avenue is the second building in this district by Emory Roth. Like Roth’s later building at 24 Fifth to the south, the style is nominally Spanish Renaissance, handled in an engagingly droll manner.  The terra cotta faux loggia and mock-heraldic coat of arms make for a welcome splash of color… Continue reading

Church of the Ascension, 36-38 Fifth Avenue

Standing at 36 – 38 Fifth Avenue, the Church of the Ascension is one of the great Gothic Revival designs of Richard Upjohn, best known for the slightly earlier Trinity Church at Broadway and Wall Street. Constructed in 1840 – 1841, Ascension is simpler than Upjohn’s Wall Street masterpiece, in keeping with what was then… Continue reading

35 Fifth Avenue

35 Fifth Avenue, the former Hotel Grosvenor, is now the Samuel Rubin Residence Hall of New York University.  Built in 1925 in the Neo-Federal style it is the second of two such buildings by Schwartz & Gross on the avenue, standing diagonally to its sister design at 30 Fifth.  Novelist Willa Cather lived at the… Continue reading

33 Fifth Avenue

33 Fifth Avenue is a capable design by the little-known firm of Sussman & Hess.  Two story pillars above the first floor are mirrored at the uppermost stories.  Façade details are a restrained mix of Georgian and Federal motifs. A surety of scale saves the third broken pediment on the same block from redundancy.

30 Fifth Avenue

30 Fifth Avenue is one of two designs on Lower Fifth by Schwartz and Gross, an apartment house firm responsible for numerous landmarks on the Upper East Side and along the length of Central Park West.  Their best-known design is undoubtedly 55 Central Park West, the Art Deco apartment house that appeared in the film… Continue reading