560 Fifth Avenue
One of the saddest of the recent architectural travesties in Midtown, the beautiful Beaux Arts shop at 560 Fifth Avenue that Grand Central Terminal architects Warren & Wetmore produced for jeweler Jacob Dreicer in 1906 has recently had its black-and gold marble first floor removed and its façade overall obscured with a sign for the… Continue reading
411 Fifth Avenue
Having graced the avenue with the singular Louis Sullivan-meets-Barry Lyndon design at 404 Fifth Avenue, Warren & Wetmore pulled out similar stops for 411 Fifth Avenue, one of the city’s most ebullient and bizarre structures. Finished in 1915, a classic Chicago School building is frosted with lavish terra cotta cartouches, busts, floral ornament and relief… Continue reading
404 Fifth Avenue, The Stewart Building
404 Fifth Avenue is a wonderful amalgam of the Chicago School with 18th Century English taste. Also known as the Stewart Building, this beautifully crisp Sullivan-style skyscraper is finished in terra cotta ornament that recalls the blue-and-white “jasper-work” of Josiah Wedgwood, here reproduced with an extravagant surety that renders the classical motifs newly abstract. Warren & Wetmore,… Continue reading