South of Union Square logo
South of Union Square
Post
742 5 Avenue
Bergdorf Goodman
1

58th Street. View looking south from in front of Sherman statue to plot on 58th Street just west of Bergdorf Goodman.

1947

Bergdorf Goodman

58th Street. View looking south from in front of Sherman statue to plot on 58th Street just west of Bergdorf Goodman.

IMAGE DATE1947
FromMuseum of the City of New York logoMuseum of the City of New York

BERGDORF GOODMAN, MANHATTAN Address: 754 Fifth Avenue New York, NY 10019 Architect: Buchman & Kahn Constructed: 1928

Constructed as seven individual but architecturally unified stores, this structure replaced the Cornelius Vanderbilt II mansion, one of the grandest Gilded Age residences in the city. Its distinct seven- and nine-story massing pays homage to the demolished Vanderbilt structure. Bergdorf Goodman, established in 1899 by Herman Bergdorf and Edwin Goodman, was one of the building’s first tenants. They eventually acquired the entire building, and further expanded into two adjacent buildings in 1959. In 1984, the building received a new base, designed to unify the previously separate storefronts in a way that would relate to the rest of the building. In addition to being home to an iconic New York retailer, the structure is significant for its refined design and strong classical organization, featuring a series of bays with a tight rhythm of windows. Its white South Dover marble façade, capped by a slate roof, features shallow changes of planes to create lines, shadows and decorative figures.

ByHistoric Districts Council logoHistoric Districts Council
Privacy PolicyTerms of Service