645 Fifth Avenue, Olympic Tower
One of Fifth Avenue’s few truly Miesian designs and the first mixed-use structure to be constructed on Fifth Avenue, 645 Fifth Avenue, better known as Olympic Tower, was constructed as a joint venture of Aristotle Onassis and Arlen Realty & Development. Completed in 1976 to plans by Skidmore, Ownings & Merrill, the building is a… Continue reading
640 Fifth Avenue
640 Fifth Avenue was designed for the magazine giant Crowell-Colliers and was finished in 1949 to plans by Leonard Schultze & Associates in a Rockefeller Center Moderne mode much in keeping with the Center itself. Never anybody’s favorite building, 640 Fifth Avenue is further compromised by a jarring addition in 2004 by Kohn Pederson Fox… Continue reading
630 Fifth Avenue, The International Building
The tallest building of Rockefeller Center to front Fifth Avenue, the International Building at 630 Fifth Avenue was originally planned as a variation on the theme established with La Mason Francaise and The British Empire Building to the south. The two protruding lower wings of the 41-story skyscraper were to be dubbed the Palazzo D’Italia… Continue reading
St. Patrick’s Cathedral
Begun in 1858 and only reaching its present form in 1931, St. Patrick’s Cathedral was designed by James Renwick Jr., one of the foremost of New York’s Gothic Revival architects. Equally adept in other styles, he also designed the Italianate castle of the original Smithsonian Institute and the Main Building at Vassar College in the… Continue reading
620 Fifth Avenue, The British Empire Building
The British Empire Building at 620 Fifth Avenue is a mirror image of La Masion Francaise save for its sculpture, here consisting of small figurative works by artist Carl Paul Jennewien, seemingly floating in space beneath a stylized lion and unicorn. The figures represent peoples and resources controlled by the British Empire in the UK,… Continue reading