The Bergdorf Goodman Building is a department store building at 754 Fifth Avenue between 57th and 58th streets in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. The building, designed by Albert Buchman and Ely Jacques Kahn, was erected between 1927 and 1928 as seven separate storefronts. It contains the women's store of the luxury retailer Bergdorf Goodman and, since 1940, has also included a Van Cleef & Arpels jewelry store. Over the years, the building has contained numerous smaller shops and boutiques as well. The Bergdorf Goodman Building is a New York City designated landmark.
The site was occupied by the Cornelius Vanderbilt II House from 1882 to 1927. The real-estate developer Frederick Brown bought the site in 1926 and hired Buchman & Kahn to design several store structures on the site. Originally, Bergdorf Goodman leased out only the northernmost storefront, while the other stores were leased to a variety of tenants, such as Dobbs & Co., Parke-Bernet, and the Tailored Woman. The Mutual Life Insurance Company took over the storefronts at a foreclosure auction in 1934. Bergdorf Goodman bought the northern half of the site the next year, followed by the southern half in 1947, and eventually expanded its store into the entire building. Major renovations took place in the late 1950s, late 1960s, and early 1980s. The building was converted into Bergdorf Goodman's women's store in 1990, after a new men's store opened across Fifth Avenue. Further renovations were carried out during the 2000s and 2010s.
The design was intended to evoke the architecture of the old Vanderbilt mansion. The building is clad in white South Dover marble, with multicolored veins, and is topped by a green mansard roof. The northernmost and southernmost sections of the building were built as nine-story structures, while the center of the building was originally seven stories high. Initially, the structures functioned as separate stores, which have since been connected to each other via ramps. Bergdorf Goodman's original French-style interiors have been modified extensively over the years. The building's former tenants also designed their respective spaces in various styles, and there are multiple smaller shops and salons throughout the structure.
Site The Bergdorf Goodman Building is at 754 Fifth Avenue, on the west side of Fifth Avenue between 57th and 58th streets, in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. The land lot is approximately rectangular, covering . It has a frontage of on Fifth Avenue to the east, on 58th Street to the north, and on 57th Street to the south. On the same block are the Solow Building and Paris Theater to the west. Across 58th Street are the Plaza Hotel to the northwest, Grand Army Plaza to the north, and the General Motors Building to the northeast. Across 57th Street are the Crown Building and 17 West 56th Street. Other nearby buildings include the Squibb Building (745 Fifth Avenue) and 3 East 57th Street to the east, and the Tiffany & Co. flagship store, Trump Tower, and 590 Madison Avenue to the southeast.
Fifth Avenue between 42nd Street and Central Park South (59th Street) was relatively undeveloped through the late 19th century. The surrounding area was once part of the common lands of the city of New York. The Commissioners' Plan of 1811 established Manhattan's street grid with lots measuring deep and wide. Upscale residences were constructed around Fifth Avenue following the American Civil War. These included two residences on Fifth Avenue and 57th Street: a mansion belonging to Frederic W. Stevens at the southwest corner, and the Cornelius Vanderbilt II House on the northwest corner. By the 1900s, that section of Fifth Avenue was becoming a commercial area, and stores were also developed on 57th Street in the 1910s.
Before the Bergdorf Goodman Building's construction, the site at 754 Fifth Avenue was occupied by Cornelius Vanderbilt II's brick-and-stone mansion, which was completed in 1882. George B. Post designed the original mansion, while Richard Morris Hunt designed an annex to the rear on 58th Street in the 1890s. After Vanderbilt died in 1899, his widow Alice Claypoole Vanderbilt continued to own the mansion.; Though Cornelius had bequeathed a life estate in the mansion to Alice, he did not bequeath the mansion itself. As such, all of Cornelius's heirs had to agree on any potential sale, and the New York Supreme Court had to approve such a sale.
History The Bergdorf Goodman department store traces its origins to 1899 when Herman Bergdorf, who owned a tailor shop in Manhattan, started mentoring a young merchant named Edwin Goodman. Within two years, Goodman had purchased an interest in the business, which was renamed Bergdorf Goodman. The company moved several times as the city developed further. By 1925, Bergdorf Goodman had leased space at Fifth Avenue and 52nd Street,; but even that storefront was inadequate by the time it opened. Meanwhile, Alice Vanderbilt asked the New York Supreme Court for permission to sell the mansion in 1925, citing the neighborhood's redevelopment,; and the court granted her request the same year.; The real-estate developer G. Maurice Heckscher initially wanted to build a high-rise hotel on the Vanderbilt Mansion's site.; A rival developer, Frederick Brown, instead bought the house in 1926,; and the mansion was razed the next year.
Development
Planning and design
After Brown acquired the Vanderbilt site, he hired Albert Buchman and Ely Jacques Kahn to design several store structures on the site, each ranging from six to eight stories. Cross & Brown were hired as the real estate brokers. Kahn later recalled that, although neither Brown nor the site's real estate brokers had asked his opinion for the site, the final plans called for the construction of several stores, connected via an alley. According to Kahn, the developers met weekly to discuss the construction of the buildings, but "there was still the question as to whether the development was entirely what the circumstances warranted". G. Richard Davis & Co. was hired to erect the structures.
In March 1927, Bergdorf Goodman leased the structure at the southwest corner of 58th Street and Fifth Avenue from Frederick Brown. Bergdorf Goodman was to pay Brown $187,500 a year until 1949.; Bergdorf Goodman offered to buy the rest of the Vanderbilt site outright, but Brown rejected the offer. Brown submitted plans for the first building to the New York City Department of Buildings later that March,; and the plans for the other stores were filed that April. The plans called for an arcade extending between 57th and 58th streets, as well as seven storefronts measuring between wide. The central five storefronts were to be shorter than the outer two storefronts. In December 1927, the New York Building Congress gave awards to sixteen people who had worked on the buildings.;
Completion and opening Edwin Goodman announced in January 1928 that he would move into a 14-room apartment atop the northernmost structure.; At the time, the store manufactured its own garments on site, and city law allowed only janitors to live above the store. To get around this restriction, Goodman assumed the title of "janitor", leading to him being called "New York's wealthiest janitor". The Bergdorf Goodman store in the northernmost structure opened to the public in early March 1928, being the first structure to open. When the store buildings were completed, there were concerns that the stores would not receive much traffic.; However, within two months of the new store's opening, Bergdorf Goodman reported that its business had increased by 60%. For the next several decades, the Fifth Avenue building remained Bergdorf Goodman's only location.
Meanwhile, Dobbs & Co. leased the three southernmost structures, at the northwest corner of 57th Street and Fifth Avenue, that January. At the time, Dobbs planned to use four floors in all three structures; Crofut & Knapp Co. was to lease the fifth floor, while the remaining two or three floors in each structure would be leased to other stores. Dobbs & Co. combined five of the storefronts into a single store. The Bergdorf Goodman Building's four southernmost structures were thus originally known as the Dobbs Building. The Dobbs store opened on October 16, 1928. Multiple retailers negotiated for space in the remaining structures on the Vanderbilt site. The development of the Bergdorf Goodman Building contributed to the growth of 57th Street as a retail corridor.
Early years
Brown ownership After the buildings were completed in 1928, Brown transferred ownership of the storefronts to the Barclay-Arrow Corporation. By early 1929, Bergdorf Goodman had outgrown the northernmost storefront. As such, the company leased the two structures to the south of its original storefront that May; these storefronts had been empty ever since their completion. Theodore Hofstatter was hired to renovate the second through sixth stories of these buildings, adding offices to the fifth floor and workrooms on the sixth floor. Bergdorf Goodman added a shoe department, and it also added a boudoir and hired Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna of Russia to run the boudoir.; Bergdorf Goodman subleased the ground floor and basement of 750 Fifth Avenue to the linen shop Mosse Inc. in July 1929,; and the ground floor and basement of 754 Fifth Avenue was leased to Tecla Pearls Inc. that November.; In addition, the Plaza Trust Company agreed to lease a storefront facing 57th Street.
Dobbs & Co. filed for bankruptcy in May 1931,; and the contents of its store at 57th Street and Fifth Avenue were auctioned off the next month. That December, the Mutual Life Insurance Company filed to foreclose on two mortgages worth a combined . Though the Barclay-Arrow Corporation had defaulted only on the $90,000 interest payment, Mutual Life wanted to compel Barclay-Arrow to pay the entire amounts of both mortgages. The buildings were supposed to be sold at auction in early 1932,; but the auction was postponed twice. Brown declared bankruptcy later the same year. Bergdorf Goodman leased back 754 Fifth Avenue from Tecla Pearls in August 1933, with plans to expand its shoe department there.; The apparel shop Grande Maison de Blanc leased the storefront at number 746 in July 1934,; and Grande Maison's store opened that September.;
Foreclosure and split ownership