985 Fifth Avenue

Often mistaken for a wing of 980 Fifth Avenue, 985 Fifth Avenue shares its more controversial neighbor’s setback but seems more deserving of the “excruciatingly banal” epithet. The unusual sculpture in front (pictured above) is by Priscilla Kapel and is titled “The Castle”. The work might be intended as an ironic take on the Gothic… Continue reading

980 Fifth Avenue

Erected in 1966, 980 Fifth Avenue replaced the Isaac Brokaw Mansion, a substantial if unimaginative chateau, with a building that historian Andrew S. Dolkart called “excruciatingly banal”.  Andrew Alpern’s estimation was even more withering: in his book “New York’s Fabulous Luxury Apartment Houses”, he opined of 990 Fifth Avenue that “all that has remained of… Continue reading

969 Fifth Avenue

A pleasant if rather pedestrian building, 969 Fifth Avenue was designed in 1926 by Joseph L. Raimist and represents the then newly accepted idea that a New York City apartment was less one’s primary place of residence and more a seasonal pied-a-terre.  A Renaissance Revival pastiche, the building rises from a very narrow lot, giving… Continue reading

965 Fifth Avenue

965 Fifth Avenue was designed by Irving Magnon, best known as co-designer of the far more elaborate El Dorado apartment house on Central Park West.  This relatively stark building replaced the Jacob Schiff Mansion in 1938.

960 Fifth Avenue

A handsome edifice co-designed by Warren & Wetmore and Rosario Candela, 960 Fifth Avenue was completed in 1927 and replaced the infamous Clark Mansion, easily the city’s most over-the-top private residence.  In place of the mansion’s much-ridiculed Baroque frills, 960 Fifth Avenue’s sedate exterior cloaks a series of apartments noted for their grandeur and individuality… Continue reading