551 Fifth Avenue, The Fred F. French Building
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One of the city’s best Art Deco buildings, the Fred F. French Building at 551 Fifth Avenue was completed in 1927 to designs by H. Douglas Ives and Sloan & Robertson. The first setback skyscraper on Fifth Avenue and the tallest building on the street when completed, 551 Fifth Avenue did much to establish the area as a luxurious office district.
The magnificent lobby and beautifully detailed entrance (shown above) incorporate Babylonian and Mesopotamian iconography, as does the spectacular sunburst mosaic that crowns the 38-story structure.
The building was restored in the early 1990s by Wiss, Janney, Elstner Associates, earning the Building Owners and Managers Association Award for 1994-1995’s best historic building.
The National Register of Historic Places listed the building in 2004; 551 Fifth Avenue is also a New York City landmark.