Sidewalk Clock at 200 Fifth Avenue

As a fitting entry for the countdown to New Year’s Eve, we present Fifth Avenue’s southernmost sidewalk clock, one of New York’s most elaborate! Sharing an address with 200 Fifth Avenue, the clock was designed by Hecla Ironworks and features an example of the Scammozi capital, a variant of the Doric order; it was installed… Continue reading

Just Off Fifth: The Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree

While we’re definitely skipping north a few blocks, the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree is a treasured feature of Fifth Avenue’s holiday season.  Located in front of Rockefeller Center’s RCA Building and visible from Fifth Avenue (at the foot of Channel Gardens, where this picture was taken), the tree has been an official installation since 1933,… Continue reading

200 Fifth Avenue

A masterwork of the firm of Maynicke & Franke, 200 Fifth Avenue replaced the palatial Fifth Avenue Hotel, a legendary establishment that was one of the world’s first luxury hotels, boasting bathrooms in every suite and New York’s first hotel passenger elevator, Otis Tufts’ not-very-appealing-sounding “vertical screw railway”. The current building was much praised at… Continue reading

Madison Square Park

First plotted in 1811, Madison Square Park is a much-reduced design of what was intended as a “Grand Parade” that would have extended from 23rd to 34th Streets and from Third to Seventh Avenues – an area larger than the entire present NoMad district.  Named after the then-in-office President James Madison, the park was originally… Continue reading

NoMad: 23rd Street to 34th Street

Originally developed as a genteel residential neighborhood similar to Washington Square, the area now known as NoMad (NOrth of MADison Square Park) is one of New York’s most architecturally diverse and historically significant districts. Stretching from 23rd Street to 34th Street, bordered by Madison and Seventh Avenues, and encompassing the Madison Square North Historic District,… Continue reading