Former A.T. Stewart Building 280 Broadway, Joseph Trench & John B. Snook, 1845-46

280 Broadway is one of New York’s most significant commercial structures. Built for Alexander Turney Stewart’s department store—the city’s first—the building and the business greatly impacted the city’s economic growth and American merchandising. With this building, Stewart introduced America to the pleasant shopping experience and to the idea that architecture can be employed to reflect a business’ image. Its marble façades emulated an Italian Renaissance palace, a trend for commercial architecture in London, with which Stewart was familiar. This style was a major departure from New York’s low-scale, simple commercial buildings, and it was imitated into the 20th century.