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129 East 62nd Street, date unknown. This neo-Grec style building, constructed between 1873 and 1874 by John Prague, has the triangular pediment (over the door) that is indicative of that architectural style. This is the final building in a row of 15 structures built at the same time, by the same architect, stretching from Park Avenue to the middle of the block on the north side of 62nd Street.

58th Street Branch, July 8, 1928. Designed by Carrère and Hastings and opened May 10, 1907, the 58th Street Branch looks very different today. The original wide library building was demolished in the 1960s and was replaced in 1969 by a new branch in the lower floors of an office tower at the same location.

Gnome Products Building roof, 1933. Following a facade and storefront redesign in the early 1930s, the building at 316 East 59th Street because the fairytale-esque 'Home of the Gnomes." The bakery, which sold bread (often in unique shapes) used nearly every inch of their building as advertising. The gnome sitting on the roof, chomping on a bread roll, was best viewed from the entrance roadway to the Queensboro Bridge. Alas the rooftop gnome was removed by 1935 after the business was taken over by new owners and converted from a retail to an industrial bakery.

East 56th Street from Third Avenue, looking toward Lexington Avenue, 1940. On the north side of 56th Street is no. 141, completed in 1940. The 12-story building was designed by H.I. Feldman, a prolific city architect whose projects include the Park Lane Tower on Third Avenue between 85th and 86th Streets, the NYCHA LaGuardia Houses on the Lower East Side.

New York is a city built on the labor of its people. This story captures a glimpse inside training spaces and workplaces of days past, many of which you'd be hard-pressed to find today.

47 East 60th Street, 1922. The Grolier Club is the oldest existing bibliophilic (a fancy way of saying literary) club in North America. Founded in 1884, they have occupied three locations in their history. In 1917 the club moved into this neo-Georgian townhouse designed for them by famed architect Bertram Grosvenor Goodhue. Unsurprisingly, the building's interiors were designed to prominently display their book collections.

Edward Durell Stone House, ca. 1980. In 1956 architect Edward Durell Stone purchased a narrow 1878-built rowhouse on 64th Street. Originally designed in a neo-Grec style by James Ware, the 15 feet wide facade was dramatically transformed by the modernist Stone. He removed the stoop and created the entrance at the basement level. The most impactful work was the addition of a bright white filigree screen that reached from street level to the roof, rendered with a somewhat dizzying geometric pattern that alternately looked like circles, squares or diamond shapes depending on the perspective. Though fiercely modernist, Stone respected the history of his home, adding his mid-century details alongside the 19th-century interiors in a harmonious way. This photograph captures the home sans screen when a few years after his father's 1978 death, Benjamin Hicks Stone removed the screen due to deterioration and instability. He reproduced and replaced it. When the home changed hands in 2004, the new owners hired Hicks Stone to restore it and update the kitchen, baths, and mechanical systems.

Park Avenue, today a coveted address, was once neglected. In 1831, the New York and Harlem Railroad was granted use of what was then known as Fourth Avenue for its train tracks. Steam locomotives were introduced in 1837, and the avenue was widened from 100 to 140 feet. Just after the construction of the Grand Central Depot on 42nd Street (the first of three stations to be called Grand Central), legislation in 1872 mandated that train tracks be below ground, which led to construction of a railroad tunnel between 56th and 96th Streets. Known as the “Fourth Avenue Improvement,” this partially covered tunnel funneled pollutants and noise up to the street through vents in the center of Fourth Avenue. As a result, residential development stalled in the 1870s and 80s, even as the wealthy were building extravagant mansions on Fifth and Madison Avenues and associated carriage houses and stables east of Fourth Avenue. A transitional place, Fourth Avenue’s first buildings included an assortment of rowhouses, tenements and institutions. The latter category included the German Hospital (later Lenox Hill Hospital) and the Seventh Regiment Armory. In 1887, the Board of Alderman voted to rename the blocks north of 42nd Street Park Avenue, but “Fourth Avenue” was widely used until the early 20th century. After a major rail accident in 1902, the New York State Legislature banned steam locomotives in Manhattan, requiring train lines to be electrified. This precipitated the construction of a new Grand Central Terminal and drastically increased Park Avenue’s real estate value. The central vents were converted into landscaped malls. In 1928-29, to facilitate the widening of the avenue for vehicular traffic, the malls and sidewalks were narrowed and buildings’ areaways were removed. Regardless of their diminution in size, the malls are still a highlight of Park Avenue. Perhaps the most important contributor to Park Avenue’s special character is its apartment buildings, whose largely uniform heights form continuous street walls. After World War I, apartment living became fashionable for the wealthy, and Park Avenue experienced a building boom in the 1910s and 20s. Apartment buildings were designed to emulate the elegance of the townhouses they were replacing. In addition to spacious lobbies, uniformed doormen, elevators and large apartments (with as many as 18 rooms), the buildings were designed by respected architects in popular styles, including: Gothic Revival, Renaissance Revival and Art Deco. Among the notable architects were: George and Edward Blum, Rosario Candela, J. E. R. Carpenter, George F. Pelham and Emery Roth. These buildings continued to be built on Park Avenue after World War II and up until the present, signaling its constant desirability over time. Park Avenue also boasts a number of graceful townhouses and religious institutions, as well as several new buildings completed in the early 2000s. Residential Park Avenue is largely protected by landmark designation. The Upper East Side Historic District, designated in 1981, includes the blocks between East 61st and 79th Streets. The Park Avenue Historic District, designated in 2014, includes the blocks between East 79th and 91st Streets. The Expanded Carnegie Hill Historic District, designated in 1993, includes the blocks between East 91st and halfway between 93rd and 94th Streets. The avenue also includes a number of individually designated landmarks.

535 Park Avenue ca. 1913 535 Park Avenue began its life in 1909 when a group of businessmen and professionals began to plan for an apartment building on Park Avenue just above midtown. Intending on creating a co-op, the group hired the architect Herbert Lucas, known for his work on 24 Gramercy Park South. In designing the building, the group hoped that Lucas would land as close to "a private home as possible." Endeavoring to do so, Lucas came up with an elegant Colonial design, using simple brick and half-oval balconies. The co-op owners' apartments tended to be duplexes within the building, along with a numbed half floor simplexs that were rented, mostly to bankers and lawyers, to reduce the initial building costs. However, the press was not as kind. It was decried in the 1911 Architectural Review as a sham-palatial amongst other more biting critiques. The author, taking particular offense to the mix of red brick and terra cotta, called it "cheap finery" and described its cornice as that "of the cheapest and vulgarest kind of tenement houses." While 535 has aged well, the two-story terracotta band at its bottom has experienced some wear and tear, graying with dirt over the years. The co-op board undertook renovation work on the base in 2013, returning it to its original gleaming white color.

521 Park Avenue, 1930. The apartment building at no. 521 was constructed in 1911, and designed by architect William Boring, who is best known for the Immigration Station on Ellis Island. In 1913 the 12-story building was awarded an honorable mention by the New York Chapter of the American Institute of Architects. Its decorative metal balconies (some which run the width of the building, and others considerably shorter) have been preserved.

Mount Vernon Hotel Museum ARCHITECT: Unknown DATE: 1799 STYLE: Federal The charm of this Federal style stone stable converted into a comfortable headquarters for the Colonial Dames is to be found in its superb masonry construction and its excellent proportions. The sharp profiles of the low pitched pedimented gable roofs cut a clean line that is both severe and pleasing to the eye. A smooth-faced stone belt-course separates the rock-faced masonry of the lower floor from that of the second story clearly defining the building’s perimeter.

Col. Smith House (also known as the Adams Mansion), 1924. This building was originally a carriage house on the estate of Colonel William S. Smith, aide-de-camp to Washington and husband of Abigail Adams, the daughter of President John Adams. The estate was known as "Smith's Folly." After his failure in business, about 1800, the buildings were brought by William T. Robinson and were said to have been completed by him. In 1826 the main house burned, and in 1830 the carriage house was bought by Jeremiah Towle, remaining in the possession of his family until 1906. It was later purchased by the Colonial Dames of America.

Ritz Tower ARCHITECT: Emery Roth; Thomas Hastings DATE: 1925-27 STYLE: Classical-inspired Designed by the inventive and prolific architect Emery Roth, who was responsible for many luxury apartment buildings throughout Manhattan, the Ritz Tower was intended to be the ne plus ultra of apartment living. Thomas Hastings, the surviving partner of the prominent architectural firm of Carrere & Hastings helped to create the Classical-inspired design. At the time of its construction, the Ritz Tower was the tallest residential building in New York, with panoramic views in all directions. The lower floors, which are more easily visible from the street, are enriched by highly sculptural ornament, including putti, urns and rusticated stone. Each setback of the tower is marked by pilasters, pediments and balustrades and is highlighted by large stone fleches which carry the viewer’s eye upward along the building’s height. The tower, crowned by a pyramidal roof with a tall obelisk, further increases the sense of height which was such an important factor when the building was constructed.

We know there's a lot of stressful news in your timeline, so here's a round-up of calming images for a #MuseumMomentofZen.

“55th Street, north side, east of Lexington Avenue. The church is the Swedish Baptist Church, and beyond it is the Babies Hospital. March 28, 1928.” In 1929, both the First Swedish Baptist Church and Babies Hospital left their 55th Street locations, the former for a new building on East 61st Street, while the latter shifted operations to Columbia Presbyterian Hospital on West 168th Street in Upper Manhattan.

An exterior photograph looking North on Lexington Avenue. The intersection at 55th Street is visible in the distance. Apartment houses line the street, with several businesses, such as a laundry and a grocer, occupying the ground floor. In the distance, there is a throng of pedestrians and streetcars and a horsedrawn carriage can be seen. To the extreme right, there is a statue of a Native American in front of a shop.

There's no place like NYC for the holidays! From iconic window displays to synchronized light and sound shows, this walk will guide you through the history of a festive city tradition that dates back to the 1870s.

Church of St. John the Evangelist ca. 1928 Philip DiFalco constructed this model of an East Side parish church over a period of years while he lived at 304 East 59th Street with his father and sisters. The Church of St. John the Evangelist stood at First Avenue and 55th Street from 1881 into the 1970s. The parish had been founded in 1840, on East 50th Street. News coverage of the church's dedication noted that the edifice was 14th-century Gothic in style designed by architect Arthur Crooks, with a campanile tower on the north end and 18 large stained glass windows imported from Munich.

Allan Stillman, the founder of "T.G.I. Fridays" unknowingly created what would become one of the most beloved and hated eating establishments of its era. Stillman, a perfume salesman, put down $5,000 (plus an additional $5,000 he borrowed from his mom) to turn a divey boy's bar into a hoppin' singles hangout, velvet ropes and all. Read on to learn the history of T.G.I. Fridays.

731 Lexington Avenue, at the southeast corner of East 59th Street; November 8, 1935. Sometimes referred to as Bloomberg Tower, this building is the headquarters of Bloomberg L.P. The complex, a 55-story tower on a 27-story base of offices, was built on the former site of the Alexander’s Department Store.

Gnome Products Building, ca. 1935. The bakery at no. 316, right next to the Queensboro Bridge entrance, entered the city directories in 1932. By the next year, the building was in the midst of a major renovation. In the 1920s and 1930s, with the rise of large chain and department stores, many smaller businesses aimed to standout in the streetscape by shaking up storefront design. Here the architects created a new storefront, new steeply pitched roofs, and a third story. The new look included dramatic signage that announced the building as 'Home of the Gnomes," a multipaned storefront and, of course, some painted gnomes dancing around a stalk of wheat on numerous exterior walls. The figure of a giant gnome leaning against the chimney eating a loaf of bread (mentioned in some of the articles about the building) seems to have already been removed by the time of this circa 1935 photograph. Described as a ''a Hansel and Gretel cottage," the look didn't last long. The retail bakery went bankrupt within its first few years and the next business owner (Gnome Bakers, an industrial bakery) supposedly replaced the ground level shop with a truck bay. Later used by a framer, an exterminator, and a kitchen furnishings store, the building has been converted into a quirky private residence (sans any exterior gnome imagery, unfortunately).

Mount Vernon Hotel Museum and Garden, ca. 1939. Located on 61st Street between 1st and York Avenue, this plot was originally purchased by Colonel William S. Smith, a Revolutionary War veteran and politician. Smith found the property with his wife, Abigail Adams, the daughter of founding father and second U.S. President John Adams. The two bought the land with intentions to develop it into an estate called "Mount Vernon," named for George Washington's plantation in Virginia. The couple eventually sold the land, never beginning construction of their planned estate. Instead, William T. Robinson, who owned a house nearby, purchased the property to build a stone carriage house and stable. He continued to call the area "Mount Vernon." Unfortunately, Robinson's main estate was lost to a fire in the 1820s. In 1826, the former carriage house was converted into a hotel by Joseph Coleman Hart. Surrounded by rural lands, the stone house provided an easy getaway for Manhattanites looking to spend a day in the country. In an era with no public parks, the area provided New York City's elite with a place to roam free and participate in many activities, such as boating and hiking in proximity to the East River. Mount Vernon was more of a country club than a hotel, and many guests returned home to the city in the evenings by steamboat or stagecoach. The hotel closed in 1833, likely put out of business by nearby competitors. It was purchased by Jerimiah Towle and converted into a private residence for his family. As photographs indicate, by the early 20th century the Standard Light and Gas Company began building tanks in the vicinity of the property and eventually purchased the home in 1905. The building's ownership was eventually passed down to the Colonial Dames of America, a patriotic society, who converted the former hotel into their headquarters in 1924. Coinciding with the New York's World's Fair, the building was converted into the Abigail Adam Smith Museum, which was later renamed the Mount Vernon Hotel Museum and Garden to better reflect its history. The Colonial Dames of America still operate the Hotel Museum and Garden, which focuses on the history of New York City after the construction of the Erie Dam in 1925.

Bloomingdale's, ca. 1995. The classic holiday windows at Bloomingdale's have drawn in crowds of locals and tourists from around the world for decades. Their decorative windows are typically unveiled just before Black Friday so that they can be viewed by holiday shoppers throughout the season.

Third Avenue Railroad Company car barn, behind the tracks of the Third Avenue El at 65th Street, October 8, 1936. This imposing French Second Empire structure opened in 1861 and later expanded to cover the entire block between Second and Third Avenues, 65th and 66th Streets. The car barn served as a storage and transfer facility for Third Avenue streetcars and also included stables until horse-drawn streetcars were discontinued in 1899. In the early decades of the 20th century, elevated trains, subways and the increasing prevalence of automobiles combined to make the streetcars redundant. When the fleet switched to buses in the 1940s, that spelled the end for the car barn: in 1946, the dramatic Victorian building was sold to New York Life and demolished. The Manhattan House, a groundbreaking modern apartment building, was completed on the site in 1951.

Hotel Delmonico, 1937. Built in 1927, this 32-story neo-Renaissance building struggled through its early years, cycling through owners and names. First called the Cromwell Arms, the building became the Delmonico in September 1928 and was sold by its owners in foreclosure less than six months later, The name stuck, though. The hotel changed a hands a few more times, becoming a hangout for the social elite in the 1960s and a luxury apartment building in the mid 1970s. The building, once again a hotel, was purchased in 2001 by Donald Trump for $115 million. Today the building is a condo called the Trump Park Avenue.

In the 1920s, not only had American women won the right to vote, but the number of women in college began to approach that of men. The majority of women college graduates planned on careers in business, the social sciences or the professions. In New York, the hotels for women constructed during the 1920s were taller and larger than their pre-War counterparts, in part because of technological advances in construction, but also due to the continued demand for housing from single women.

Allerton House ca. 1923 In the 1920s, not only had American women won the right to vote, but the number of women in college began to approach that of men. The majority of women college graduates planned on careers in business, the social sciences or the professions. In New York, the hotels for women constructed during the 1920s were taller and larger than their pre-War counterparts, in part because of technological advances in construction, but also due to the continued demand for housing from single women. The Allerton Hotel for Women, designed by Arthur Loomis Harmon and completed in 1923, is a good example of the type. Seventeen stories high, it was constructed on the corner of Lexington and 57th Street and designed to house 600 women. Described as a “Business Women’s Hotel” and “a hotel for women who think independently,” it offered a variety of public spaces—parlours, a library, a roof garden, a restaurant, and even a ballroom—as well as “up to date” amenities needed by busy self-supporting women such as a sewing room and in-house laundry. The hotel was a project of the Allerton Company, who had previously constructed several “club” hotels for men, providing “the service of a hotel, and the intimacy of a private club.

119-121 62nd Street, ca. 1911. Nos. 119 and 121 were originally separate structures built in 1873-74 by John Prague, as part of a series of 15 buildings on the north side of East 62nd Street. In 1910 the two homes were combined and a new single facade was constructed, creating a neo-Federal style building. The work was designed by Grosvenor Atterbury (who designed Forest Hills Gardens) for the owners of the structure, Dr. Lewis A. Connor, a famed heart doctor and founder of the American Heart Association. Today the building is the Consulate General of Bulgaria.

The most famous, and arguably the best example of the new, modern women’s hotel was the Barbizon Hotel for Women, built by Murgatroyd & Ogden and completed in 1928 at 63rd and Lexington. One of the Allerton Group partners, William Silk, was the developer, and the Barbizon resembled the Allerton in size and height, as well as in purpose: to provide amenities and entertainment in-house for single, professional women. Early newspaper coverage emphasized the Barbizon was designed for the “modern woman,” who was simultaneously depicted as “strong” and “dainty.” The Barbizon positioned itself as a hotel for women who wanted a career in the arts, taking its name from a school of French artists and advertising its proximity to cultural institutions. The hotel included artists’ studios and music rooms, as well as a rich program of cultural events. There were facilities for dining, entertaining, reading, and exercising as well, including a gymnasium and a pool. As with the Martha Washington, there were also elegant shops on the ground floor. Despite the modern and even luxurious amenities and public spaces, Barbizon bedrooms were small and fairly plain. As with earlier women’s hotels, the smaller rooms meant more occupants. A 1939 hotel brochure shows an image of a single bedroom with a somewhat glamorous inhabitant, while an amateur photo of a different single bedroom at the Barbizon reflects a starker reality: one window, a bureau, a small desk, and a day-bed.

Col. Smith House (also known as the Adams Mansion), 1924. This Federal style structure was originally built as the carriage house for the large 23-acres estate of John Adams' daughter Abigail and her husband, William Stephens Smith. Despite grand plans and an idea to name the estate after George Washington's home, the Smiths were forced to sell the estate due to financial troubles. This building was completed in 1799 by the next owner, William T. Robinson, a well-to-do merchant. By the 1820s the building and its nearby structures and land were purchased and converted in the Mount Vernon Hotel, which was a day hotel catering to a rising middle class looking to escape the crowding and congestion of downtown. The hotel would only stay open for seven years. For the rest of the 19th and early 20th century it was a private residence. The building was sold to Standard Gas and Light Company in 1905. The Colonial Dames of New York purchased it in 1924 (the year this photo was taken) and turned it into a museum. It has continued in that capacity into the 21st century.

Ritz Tower ca. 1925 The luxury hotel and apartment building known as Ritz Tower was the world's tallest residential building at its opening in 1926 at 540 feet. The arrival of such a large apartment building signaled the style and glamour that had begun to be associated with living in apartments on Park Avenue. Developed by Arthur Brisbane, the building served as apartment hotel with richly appointed public rooms and restaurants on the lower floors. The famous name associated with the tower stemmed from these rooms, the Ritz-Carlton Company,having been hired by Brisbane, to provide services to the building and manage the lower floors. Its architects Emery Roth and Thomas Hasting were responsible for its classical design merging a steel frame with limestone, terra-cotta and a decorative style. The terraced levels of the tower both drawing the viewers eye upward as well as providing beautiful spaces for its inhabitants. Brisbane eventually sold the building to William Randolph Hearst who in turn sold it to the Sonnabend Hotel chain in the 1950s, whereupon it was converted to a co-op.

"135, 137 and 139-141 East 55th Street (left to right), at, adjoining and east of the N.E. corner of Lexington Ave., showing the International Medical Centre (formerly the Babies Hospital); a four story residence and the American Music Hall (formerly the Swedish Baptist Church). September 18, 1937."

Located between 65th and 66th streets between Second and Third avenues, Manhattan House (1947-51) occupied a full block in an area that was undergoing significant change as the elevated train tracks that had imprisoned that swath of the city was either recently demolished or scheduled for demolition. An old trolley barn, tenements, and assorted commercial buildings were so affordably priced that New York Life bought extra property in the surrounding blocks. The clean, crisp modernist design by architect Gordon Bunshaft, principal at Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM), which was associated with the firm Mayer & Whittlesey on the project, was an immediate success and attracted famous tenants such as Benny Goodman, Grace Kelly, and furniture designer Florence Knoll, as well as Bunshaft himself. The apartments were spacious, but the overall density was an impressive 478 pp/acre. Thanks to New York Life’s interest in long-term profits, the building was more “tower in a garden” than “tower in the park” and covered a higher percentage of land (59 percent) than the vast publicly subsidized projects that were its contemporaries. Manhattan House inspired its share of glazed brick imitators, but the truth about private investment in postwar New York was grim. With unrelenting middle-class flight, the demand for high-quality, higher-priced apartments in Manhattan remained comparatively weak. Density reduction, given these facts, made more sense to both private and public developers. Had density levels of Manhattan House been pursued across large areas of the city during the postwar years, it is likely that the city would already be accustomed to much greater density as is the case in crowded cities like Hong Kong. Instead, market failure in postwar New York was used to justify an aggressive strategy of subsidized low-density living.

The Queensboro Bridge, viewed from East 60th Street underneath the tracks of the Second Avenue El, 1937.

My Archive Summer 2019 “I was a Fiorucci addict from 1977-87, in whatever city I was in if there was a Fiorucci, I shopped it. I love the NYC store, and once when I was there I noticed the live model in the window and snapped some exterior shots and some from the inside behind the model. I prefer the indoor photos as I like the people's reactions to her and the wardrobe, reflective of the era. I love the twins in their matching outfits and the man with his hands in his pockets who just might be looking at me.” —Meredith Marciano

Todhunter Fireplaces and Lighting, date unknown. In 1927 Arthur Todhunter purchased the former upscale home at 119 East 57th Street and renovated the building for use a a showroom for this business. Todhunter, Inc. imported European antique architectural items, such as fireplaces, mantles, hardware and lighting features. Later he would also move into the business of manufacturing and selling architectural reproductions. Swept up in the popular fad for old English architecture, the facade was transformed into something the New York Times described as, "late sixteenth century England transported to the heart of New York’s shopping district.” Much of the ornamentation and materials, unsurprisingly, given the business of the owner, were recovered from older European structures and reused here. Todhunter only remained in the building he had worked to create for a little over a decade. Between 1939 and 1973 tenants included a number of galleries, a furniture store, offices of theatrical producers, and a literary auction firm. In 1973 the eye-catching building was razed for a large, modern apartment building.

Barbizon Hotel ARCHITECT: Murgatroyd & Ogden DATE: 1927-29 STYLE: North Italian Romanesque, Gothic, Renaissance Designed by the prominent hotel specialists Murgatroyd & Ogden, the 23-story Barbizon Hotel is an excellent representative of the 1920s apartment hotel building, and is notable for the high quality of its design. Its vigorous stepped-back massing reflects the influence of the 1916 zoning resolution. The Barbizon’s design is distinguished by the complex arrangement of setbacks and recessed courts, which create subtle transitions between the various elements of the design, and by the masterful handling of its eclectic mixture of North Italian Romanesque, Gothic, and Renaissance ornament. The richness of the building’s exterior brickwork that varies considerably in hue and texture, the careful proportioning of its details, and its dramatically massed roofline with its 18th story Gothic arcades and chapel-like crown have also won critical acclaim.

Arion Hall, ca. 1908. Founded in 1854 to promote "the perpetuation of love for some of the characteristic elements of German civilization," the Arion Society was a musical group that built this headquarters in 1886-1887. The grand pile was an Italian Renaissance style building with stone balconies, two sculptural groupings at the roofline, Guastavino-tiled arches inside that created huge vaulted spaces, a German beer hall, and a ballroom with seating for 500. While the society was successful through the end of the 19th century, performing at the White House and hosting international statesmen, they ran into trouble by the entry of the U.S into the Great War. When asked to sign a “pledge of loyalty to President Wilson," along with other German societies, the Arions refused. Their response was, “we regard the invitation to sign as a doubt of our loyalty and therefore an insult.” Soon after, a member refused to play the Star-Spangled Banner during a classical concert. (The conductor stated it was not a un-American sentiment, but that the song is "decidedly unclassical and did not fit in with the programme.") These actions proved the death knell for the society. They sold the clubhouse within weeks to the brewer George Ehret, and the interior furnishings were sold at public auction. The later history of the building is strange and varied. It served as the Anderson Galleries, home to art dealers, agents, and appraisers. Then it was empty between 1931 and 1946 before opening the Park Avenue Theater, a “unique and artistic movie house designed to meet the needs of a subscription clientele.” By 1957 the building had a bank, an auto salesroom, and a dance studio. Then it became the Chapel of Saints Faith, Hope, and Charity, an annex of St. Patricks's. Finally, in the late 1970s, the diocese sold the building, and the new owner razed the four-story building for a sleek new office building completed in 1981.

Abigail Adams Smith House, 1935.

"Mr. Himmel from the New York Association for the Blind, 111 East 59th Street, standing outside with his seeing-eye dog, 1929." The New York Association for the Blind was established in 1906 and offered home counseling and instructional programs for the visually impaired. Today the organization is called Lighthouse Guild International and is headquartered at 15 West 65th Street.

Manhattan House ARCHITECT: Mayer & Whittlesey; Skidmore, Owings & Merrill DATE: 1947-51 Considered by many writers to be the first white brick apartment building, it was also notable for being one of the first multiple dwellings in New York City to attempt “an indoor-outdoor synthesis” through the integration of large windows and deep projecting balconies, as well as landscaped driveways and a block-long rear garden enclosed by a low granite wall. Manhattan House generated considerable media attention and in 1952 received an award from the New York Chapter of the American Institute of Architects, which described it as “extremely attractive in appearance and beautiful in detailing.” Future New York Times and Wall Street Journal architecture critic Ada Louise Huxtable also praised its design, commenting in 1960 that Manhattan House was “one of the best examples to date … notable for its clean architectural shape, as well as for its superior execution in a highly competitive, speculative, building field.”

Postwar, the private sector showed signs of renewed interest in high-density housing. The resurgence of the city’s service sector, as embodied in gleaming office towers of midtown, indicated a real estate vitality not seen in the city since the 1920s. Modernist apartment projects pointed the way to stylish, in-town living. Explore the entirety of the Skyscraper's Museum's Exhibit: Housing Density From Tenements to Towers.

316 East 59th Street ca. 1935 The Gnome Products Company was a two story shop for “unusual bread and rolls” at 316 East 59th Street near the Queensboro bridge ramp. Renovated in 1933 by the American Architects Adams & Prentice, the building has a cottage charm complete with slanting pitched roofs, gingerbread details, timber columns, a medieval German Kitchen, and a large papier-mâché Gnome sitting on the roof welcoming passersby.