When you think of classic New York brands, you might come up with Nathan's or the Yankees before thinking of Steinway & Sons. However, the historic piano maker has deep roots in the five boroughs.

St. Bartholomew’s Church ca. 1995 St. Bartholomew’s Church on Park Avenue and 51st street was designed by Bertram Goodhue and completed with the addition of the dome designed by Mayers, Murray, and Phillips in 1927. One of the largest congregations of the Episcopal Church, St. Bartholomew’s with its “Cross of Triumph” at 148-foot above street level, still keeps its grand scale among towering apartment buildings. The 570-ft RCA Victor Building immediately behind it has identical brick and its Gothic style crown make it appear as an extension of the church’s style and presence.

St. Bartholomew's Church, ca. 1921. The parish of St. Bartholomew's Protestant Episcopal Church was founded in 1835. The congregation's first church was located on the corner of Lafayette at Great Jones Street in the neighborhood now known as NoHo. In the early 1870s, the congregation moved uptown to a new church designed by James Renwick, Jr. While in this location the church became very involved in social services, establishing six Sunday schools in five languages, a rescue mission, and a medical clinic. A new pastor in the early years of the 20th century advocated for a new church as, "a great gift of beauty to the city." In 1914 the church purchased a new plot of land at Park Avenue and 51st Street and Bertram Goodhue was hired as architect. The resulting structure was a grand edifice in a Byzantine-Romanesque style. The original design was scaled back quite a bit due to financial debts. The first mass was held in a very unfinished building in 1918 and the largely completed church was officially consecrated in 1923.

The F.M. Schaeffer Brewing Company was the longest operating brewery in New York City and the oldest lager beer company in the United States. It was officially founded in 1842 by two brothers who had immigrated from Wetzler, Prussia, Germany to NYC and brought with them the recipe to a popular lager beer from their hometown. Lager beer was unheard of in America at this time but thanks to the Schaeffer brothers, quickly became the beer of choice for New Yorkers and East Coast Americans. Their headquarters and brewing facilities remained in the city for over a century, and they were the last brewing company to operate in New York until the late 1970s. Their locations include Seventh Avenue and 17th Street (present-day Barneys!) where they stayed briefly and later moved to Park Ave from 50th to 52nd Street. They remained in their Park Avenue location until the early 20th century. They then moved to Kent Avenue in Brooklyn, where they remained until officially closing their New York plants in 1976. Today, Schaeffer Beer is owned by the Pabst Company, who still brew Schaeffer beer under the Miller Company to this day.

Lexington Avenue between East 51st and 52nd Streets, February 18, 1915. At center left is the Lexington Avenue Methodist Episcopal Church, built in 1861. In 1937, the historically Swedish congregation moved to a new sanctuary on East 62nd Street, known as the Lexington United Methodist Church.

St. Bartholomew's Church ca. 1926 When the new Saint Bartholomew's was built in early twentieth century, the handsome entrances, designed in 1902 for the earlier church, were moved from Madison Avenue and incorporated in the new structure. They were inspired by the Romanesque Church of Saint Giles at Arles, France, and blended singularly well with the Byzantine splendor of the new edifice. The tower of the General Electric Building, which rises directly behind Saint Bartholomew's, used the same warm-colored brick as the church to harmonize with it- a farsighted bit of planning rarely encountered today