597 Fifth Avenue, The Charles Scribner & Sons Building

The Charles Scribner’s Sons Building at 597 Fifth Avenue is one of Midtown’s best surviving commercial buildings from the early 20th century.  Designed in 1912 by Ernest Flagg, architect of the Little Singer Building on Broadway and an earlier building for Scribner’s at 153-157 Fifth Avenue, 597 Fifth Avenue is a virtuoso melding of Parisian… Continue reading

375, 377 & 379 Fifth Avenue

Capped by a pair of oddly funereal urns, the slightly eccentric building at 377 Fifth Avenue (shown at center above) looks as if it might have been designed by Edward Gorey.  It is in fact by the firm of Severance and Van Alen and was designed in 1921 as part of the Childs Restaurant chain,… Continue reading

315 Fifth Avenue

The Rock Building at 315 Fifth Avenue is a handsome 1906 design by Maynicke & Franke.  Featuring numerous Baroque details, it is similar in scale and effect to many of the firm’s buildings further south on The Ladies Mile.  The renowned bookstore Brentano’s was the original ground floor tenant. The façade has been recently cleaned and… Continue reading

312 Fifth Avenue

A ornate Gothic façade, 312 Fifth Avenue is an excellent example of the commercial architecture of the early 20th Century.

303 Fifth Avenue

An extravagantly detailed Beaux Arts tower more redolent of Wall Street than Midtown, 303 Fifth Avenue was completed in 1909 to designs by Buchman & Fox and was one of the tallest buildings north of the Flatiron Building at 23rd Street.  Boasting a splendid copper cornice, the building has been owned by the Bell Family… Continue reading