910 Fifth Avenue

Once a 12 story Beaux-Arts building similar is style to 907 Fifth Avenue directly across 72nd Street, 910 Fifth Avenue was stripped to its steel skeleton in 1959 and rebuilt as a 16-story white brick apartment house in the then generic “white brick” style. Writing of 910 Fifth Avenue, historian Andrew Alpern opined that “its… Continue reading

718 Fifth Avenue

A haughty little cube that suggests the Italian architecture of the 1930’s, 718 Fifth Avenue’s current appearance actually dates to 1960 when the building was redone for Harry Winston by the French architect Jacques Régnault in travertine. The prior treatment was an uncompromising piece of Art Moderne by William and Geoffrey Platt for the Corning… Continue reading

693 Fifth Avenue

Called “the best Postmodern building in the city” by architectural historian Carter B. Horsley, 693 Fifth Avenue was designed by Johnson & Burgee for the Japanese department store Takashimaya.  Completed in 1993, the building provided a robustly contextual solution to the gap that previously existed between two of Midtown’s most refined buildings, the Elizabeth Arden… Continue reading

683-685 Fifth Avenue

Formerly two very different buildings, 683-685 Fifth Avenue were originally the Art Deco Dorothy Gray Building at 683 Fifth Avenue, designed in 1929 by Kohn & Butler, and Sloan & Robertson’s Beaux Arts 685 Fifth Avenue of 1926.  At some point the latter design enveloped its neighbor. The original buildings can be seen standing together… Continue reading

677 Fifth Avenue

The former New York flagship of Fendi, 677 Fifth Avenue’s remarkable Cor-Ten steel façade was the result of a virtuoso reimagining of the original 1920s building by architect Peter Marino.  It has just last year been replaced by Microsoft with a five-story digital display more befitting Times Square than Midtown.  Original details from the 1920s… Continue reading