2140 – 2150 Fifth Avenue

2140 – 2142 Fifth Avenue is a rather battered commercial building that overlooks the Callender Playground; window treatments suggest a budget-Beaux Arts.  The cornice has been removed. 2144-2150 Fifth Avenue is a tall, dark and handsome brownstone row in varying degrees of repair.  The basement-levels of the latter have been partially converted to commercial use:… Continue reading

2056 Fifth Avenue, The former Fifth Avenue Hall

An attractive if unusual confection, 2056 Fifth Avenue consists of a highly-detailed Beaux Arts Building and a penthouse floor addition in a seeming Viennese Expressionist style. Constructed as Fifth Avenue Hall in 1917, the original building served as a center for New York’s Finnish community, which settled extensively in Harlem during the 1910s and 1920s. … Continue reading

995 Fifth Avenue, The Stanhope

Constructed in 1926 as the Stanhope Hotel to designs by Rosario Candela, 995 Fifth Avenue was the only hotel on Fifth Avenue north of the Pierre at 62nd Street.  Its location directly across from the Metropolitan Museum of Art made it a popular place for lunch among the city’s museum-goers and its cabaret performances were… Continue reading

838 Fifth Avenue

Completed in 1950 to designs by Harry M. Prince, 838 Fifth Avenue was originally the offices of the Union of American Hebrew Congregations.  A sensitive and understated design, it is the only office building on Fifth Avenue between 59th and 100th Streets. in 1999 the building was converted to condos by the firm of Beyer… Continue reading

651 Fifth Avenue, Cartier’s, The Morton Plant Mansion

The largest mansions left intact on Fifth Avenue south of Central Park and one of the grandest of its type ever constructed, the Morton Plant Mansion at 651 Fifth Avenue was designed by the British-born Robert W. Gibson, best known as an ecclesiastical architect whose other major New York City work  is the astonishing Church… Continue reading