712 Fifth Avenue

A breakthrough concession to preservation, 712 Fifth Avenue is a tall limestone tower that incorporates two beautiful small commercial buildings at its base alongside an entry façade that mimics the Beaux Arts style so completely that many see it as another historic feature. Constructed in 1990 through 1992 to designs by architectural firm Kohn Pedersen… Continue reading

711 Fifth Avenue, The NBC Building

A grand Beaux Arts office building, 711 Fifth Avenue was built in 1926-1927 by developer-architect Floyd Brown.  The sumptuous but conservative exterior concealed what architectural historian Christopher Gray has called “The radically modern headquarters of NBC.”  Designed by Raymond Hood, one of the chief architects at Rockefeller Center, these rooms displayed a sleek Art Moderne… Continue reading

The Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church

The Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church, here shown under restoration, is one of the largest Presbyterian congregations in the United States.  Located at 55th Street and Fifth Avenue since 1873, the stupendous Victorian High Gothic building was the tallest in New York City when completed. Designed by the little-known architect Carl Pfeiffer, Fifth Avenue Presbyterian’s impressive… Continue reading

700 Fifth Avenue, The Peninsula Hotel

Once the tallest hotel in the world and a rival to the St. Regis Hotel directly across the street, the Peninsula Hotel was constructed as the Gotham Hotel in 1905.  The hotel’s elaborate Beaux Arts style, provided by architects Hiss & Weeks, suggests a more ornate take on the palazzo type established by the University… Continue reading

St. Regis Hotel, 2 East 55th Street

A frothy confection of Second Empire Revival architecture, the immense St. Regis Hotel consists of an original building of 1904 by Trowbridge & Livingston with a 1927 addition by Sloan & Robertson.  The famed “Old King Cole” mural by artist Maxfield Parrish graces the King Cole Bar, installed in 1932; the mural was originally commissioned… Continue reading