153-157 Fifth Avenue, The Scribner Building
A Beaux Arts tour-de-force and one of architect Ernest Flagg’s extant masterpieces, 153-57 Fifth Avenue, the original Scribner Building, was constructed in 1893-1894 as the headquarters of the famed Charles Scribner’s Sons’ publishing house. Flagg’s first commercial commission, the Indiana limestone-faced building is a trove of Renaissance details (including two pert, banner-bearing cherubs above the Fifth Avenue entrance) and is thought to be the first building in the United States constructed expressly for a publishing company.
Founded in 1846 as Scribner & Baker by Charles Scribner and Isaac Baker, the firm published books on theological and philosophical subjects as well as early bestsellers. Scribner’s sons, John Blair and Charles Scribner II, gradually acquired full control of the company, changing the name of the publishing house to Charles Scribner’s Sons.
As the firm continued to grow, the brothers purchased a site at 153-157 Fifth Avenue (formerly the location of Glenham Hotel) and hired Flagg to create a memorable address. The publishing house only stayed in its opulent new home until 1913, but it must be surmised that the Scribners were happy with Flagg’s work as they hired him again to design their next location further up on Fifth Avenue in midtown (more on which later).
Flagg’s other New York works include the still-extant so-called Little Singer Building in SoHo, a unique variant on the Art Nouveau style, and the now-gone Singer Building in the Financial District, a vast Second Empire fantasy that was the tallest building in New York City to have been demolished.
153-57 Fifth Avenue was designated a New York City Landmark in 1975; the Ladies’ Mile Historic District Designation Report calls it “one of the most architecturally distinguished buildings within the district.” It is hard to disagree with that assessment.