404 Fifth Avenue

404 Fifth Avenue, also known as 402 Fifth Avenue and the Stewart & Company Building, is in the South Midtown neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City, New York, United States. It occupies the southwestern corner of Fifth Avenue and 37th Street. The land lot is slightly "L"-shaped and covers , Nearby buildings include The Langham, New York hotel and 390 Fifth Avenue to the south; the Lord & Taylor Building one block north; the Tiffany & Company Building to the east; and 200 Madison Avenue to the southeast. that had founded the Chemical Bank. Robert Walton's father Robert and uncle Ogden had acquired the site in two parts. The first portion of the site was acquired from Montague M. Hendricks in 1886, while the second portion was acquired from Thomas Scott in 1891. At the time of the building's construction, the Goelets reportedly owned more land in New York City than any family except the Astors. Just before the current building was completed, the site had been occupied by three smaller commercial loft buildings. The structures had been built in 1889–1890 as hotels and boarding houses; two years later, McKim, Mead & White converted the structures into a banquet hall. ==Architecture==

404 Fifth Avenue is eight stories tall and was designed by the firm of Warren and Wetmore. The building's architectural terracotta was manufactured by the New York Architectural Terra Cotta Company. Facade The Fifth Avenue elevation of the facade is divided into five bays, while the 37th Street elevation is divided into nine bays. At ground level, the Fifth Avenue elevation and the easternmost three elevations of the 37th Street elevation were used as storefronts. Originally, these storefronts contained glass-and-metal display windows, transom panels, stone bulkheads, and black marble cladding; There is a tenants' entrance and a service entrance in the westernmost bay on 37th Street. There is a decorative horizontal band above the first story, which contains lozenge motifs with flowers inside them. On the second story, each bay originally contained single-pane windows; the western six bays on 37th Street have since been replaced with tripartite windows. Above the second floor is a cream-colored masonry cornice, above which the facade is ornately decorated with blue and white terracotta. On the third through eighth floors, the Fifth Avenue and 37th Street elevations are designed in the same manner, with one window per floor on each bay. With a few exceptions, the windows are mostly composed of a central glass pane, casement windows on either side, and a transom window or metal transom panel above. During the late 20th century, the seventh and eighth floors contained a squash and racquet club with an aerobics club and two courts. ==History==

Many stores established in the 1850s and 1860s were located along Broadway south of 14th Street. By the 1870s, stores were being established between 14th and 23rd Streets in the Ladies' Mile area. One of the first new store buildings in the area was the B. Altman and Company Building, which opened in 1906. Other department stores such as Lord & Taylor, as well as specialty stores such as Tiffany & Co. and the Gorham Manufacturing Company, relocated during the 1900s and 1910s. Early and mid-20th century In February 1914, Robert Walton Goelet announced that he would develop an eight- to ten-story loft building at Fifth Avenue and 37th Street, giving the site's existing tenants 60 days to leave. Shortly afterward, Goelet hired Warren & Wetmore to design the structure, Stewart & Company, an existing tenant on the site, leased the southern storefront, as well as several floors of offices. Construction started on July 8, 1914; The Mark Cross store in the building opened on October 19, 1914, relocating from 210 Fifth Avenue. Records show that the building was completed on December 28, 1914, for about $250,000. Initially, Mark Cross Co. leased the building from Goelet, and it subleased the upper stories to other tenants. The upper stories were leased to various companies in the 1920s, including milliners Gage Brothers & Co., watchmaker Wittnauer, Stewart & Company merged with Arnold Constable & Company in 1925 but continued to operate a store there. Women's clothing store Emily Shops Inc. leased the basement, southern storefront, and second floor in January 1929, and Stewart and Company relocated out of the building in April 1929. Emily Shops expanded to the third floor that July, and 404 Fifth Avenue was known as the Mark Cross Building by the end of that year. The Mark Cross Co. store in the building closed in April 1936, when the company relocated further north. Emily Shops then leased the northern ground-level storefront and renovated the ground-story space. Emily Shops installed a green-and-white marble wall, with three large display windows on the ground story, and it rearranged some of its departments; the store reopened in September 1936. Goelet continued to own the building until his death in 1941, upon which he bequeathed the building to his family. The Rhode Island Corporation, operated by the Goelet family, then took over the building. According to the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC), the building's tenants included merchants who sold products such as watches, clothing, jewelry, and rubber. Tenants came from such varied industries as banking, beauty care, dentistry, fitness, importing, legal, photography, publishing, and real estate. Late 20th century to present In May 1967, the Rhode Island Corporation sold the building to Lorraine Gallagher Freimann for an estimated $2 million; at the time, the building was subject to a $1,2 million mortgage. Larry Silverstein and Bernard H. Mendik bought the building from Freimann later the same year. Records indicate that Robert R. Zeiller acquired the deed to the building in April 1976. The building was transferred yet again to H & H Associates in 1979; that company owned the building for seven years. Murray Hill Properties acquired three adjacent structures at 396 to 400 Fifth Avenue in 1987, with plans to construct a 31-story The LPC designated 404 Fifth Avenue and the nearby 2 Park Avenue as official city landmarks on April 18, 2006. Joseph Chetrit bought the building in the early 21st century, relocating his office there. Coworking space operator WeWork also occupied 404 Fifth Avenue until 2021. By early 2025, Blackstone Inc. claimed that the Chetrit family had defaulted on a $65 million loan that had been placed on 404 Fifth Avenue. == See also ==