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 here…and it’s a little hard not to think that the less interesting of the two won out.  However, Kohn & Butler’s wonderful Sucessionist-inspired department store for Namm-Loeser’s in Brooklyn still survives and is a New York City Landmark.

683-685 Fifth Avenue, like so many other buildings in Midtown, is currently being stripped of its lower floors.

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