Every Building on Fifth

A 1918 design by the great department store architects Starrett & van Vleck, 164 Fifth Avenue is an elegantly framed composition that suggests an abstracted triumphal arch. The fourth floor is a later addition. 164 Fifth Avenue was for a time tenanted by the Knights of Pythias, who moved here in the 1970s from their… Continue reading

A typically accomplished design from the architectural firm of Buchanan & Fox, 162 Fifth Avenue’s boldly scaled cornice and extensive stonework are notable features. The building is on the site of the fourth clubhouse of the Union Club, one of New York’s oldest and most exclusive private clubs. Despite the seeming pun, 162 Fifth Avenue itself takes… Continue reading

A solid example of the late commercial style of architecture, 160 Fifth Avenue was designed by the popular and prolific architect R.H. Robertson, whose work includes numerous townhouses, mansions, public buildings and commercial works, including the enormous Park Row Building of 1899, the tallest building in the world for nearly a decade; Hammersmith Farms, the… Continue reading

A survivor from the first wave of commercial development up this part of the avenue, 159-161 Fifth Avenue (also 935-939 Broadway) is attributed to Thomas Griffith, called in 1908 by the American Institute of Architects “one of the most fashionable architects of his day”. A rare surviving commercial work from the Civil War period, 159-161… Continue reading

A rare and highly finished example of the Richardsonian Romanesque, 156 Fifth Avenue is a magnificently assured work by the firm of Rowe & Baker. Constructed in 1894-1895, the building was commissioned by the Presbyterian Church of America to house its publishing offices and serve as one of two national headquarters for church operations (the… Continue reading