213-231 Fifth Avenue, The Brunswick Building

A block-spanning behemoth, 213-231 Fifth Avenue (also known as 225 Fifth Avenue) began its existence as the Brunswick Building in 1906.  The original plan had been to replace the storied Brunswick Hotel, which stood on the site, with a more up-to-date hostelry, but fashionable New York had already moved uptown by the early 20th Century… Continue reading

212-216 Fifth Avenue

Built in 1912-13 and one of the avenue’s overlooked gems, 212-216 Fifth Avenue is a design by the accomplished architectural firm of Schwartz & Gross, whose work on Lower Fifth Avenue includes the apartment buildings at 30 and 35 Fifth Avenue. In place of the Colonial Revival style employed there, 212-216 Fifth Avenue is a… Continue reading

210 Fifth Avenue

A wonderfully opulent Beaux Arts fantasy by John B. Snook & Sons, who also completed the far more prosaic 118 Fifth Avenue to the south, 210 Fifth Avenue is a double-height wedge of Second Empire Paris, replete with scrolls, balconies and cartouches and topped with one of the avenue’s best mansard roofs. Built for a… Continue reading

208 Fifth Avenue

An accomplished Renaissance Revival design from the firm of Berg & Clark, 208 Fifth Avenue was completed in 1894 and was one of the first commercial buildings in the MoMad district. Berg & Clark are perhaps best known for the now-demolished Gillender Building, a striking 1897 skyscraper that stood at Nassau and Wall Street and… Continue reading

206 Fifth Avenue

Like the other buildings on this block, 206 Fifth Avenue has a Broadway as well as a Fifth Avenue address; unlike the others, the two street facades are by different architects. Originally a house constructed in 1856-57, 206 Fifth Avenue gained its first new commercial elevation at 1126 Broadway in 1892, a Queen Anne eclectic… Continue reading