W. R. Grace Building

1114 Avenue of the Americas | also 41 West 42nd Street, 43 West 42nd Street, 38 West 43rd Street | Midtown | built 1971

Open on the map7 entries

The lot about 1940
About 1940. Via 1940s.nyc
The lot about 1985
About 1985. Via 80s.nyc

The city photographed every building for its tax records around 1940 and again in the 1980s. NYC Municipal Archives.

Written with AI from the source each entry cites, then fact-checked.

  1. 1913

    An earlier Stern's department store opens on this block, replacing the Ladies' Mile flagship

    Stern's moved its flagship from 23rd Street in the Ladies' Mile district to the block across from Bryant Park, and the store occupied the site from 1913 until 1970. The W. R. Grace Building later rose on the cleared site.

    Source: bryantpark.org

  2. 1969

    Stern's closes its 42nd Street flagship and makes its New Jersey store the headquarters

    In 1969 Stern's closed its New York flagship on 42nd Street, the store it had built in 1913 across from Bryant Park, and designated its Bergen Mall location in Paramus, New Jersey as the new headquarters and flagship. Owned by Allied Stores since 1951, the chain had seen sales decline since the late 1950s as most white New Yorkers moved to the suburbs. The Grace Building later rose on the site the old store had occupied.

    Source: Wikipedia

  3. 1972

    Gordon Bunshaft's Grace Building is finished with curving travertine faces, reusing his rejected Solow design

    The 50-story, 630-foot tower was designed principally by Gordon Bunshaft of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill for the W. R. Grace Company. Its north and south faces on 42nd and 43rd Streets curve inward, and white travertine contrasts with black windows. The slope came from the first facade Bunshaft proposed for the Solow Building, which was turned down there.

    Source: Wikipedia

  4. 1974

    Critics attack the Grace Building's shape and plaza, and the company seeks student ideas to improve the plaza

    After the tower opened in 1974, critics objected to its unusual shape and to the amount of space given over to the surrounding plaza. The Grace company responded by searching for a student design that could improve the plaza. The 42nd Street side, facing Bryant Park and the Public Library, holds the only entrance.

    Source: Wikipedia

  5. 2001

    The School of the International Center of Photography opens a 27,000-square-foot campus in the Grace Building

    In fall 2001 the International Center of Photography expanded its school into the Grace Building at 1114 Sixth Avenue, creating a Midtown campus diagonally across from its museum. Gensler designed the 27,000-square-foot facility, which doubled the center's teaching space. The school later moved to ICP's new Lower East Side home, which opened in January 2020.

    Source: Wikipedia

  6. 2015

    Chef Gabriel Kreuther opens his Alsatian restaurant at the base of the Grace Building and earns a Michelin star

    Gabriel Kreuther opened in the Grace Building, 41 West 42nd Street, facing Bryant Park, in 2015. It won a Michelin star soon after opening, three stars from the New York Times that year, and a Village Voice best-new-restaurant award, and it gained a second Michelin star in 2019. Its signature dish is a tart of sturgeon and sauerkraut, finished with caviar mousseline smoked over applewood.

    Source: Wikipedia

  7. 2018

    February

    Bank of America reportedly takes three floors in the Grace Building as it builds a Bryant Park campus

    Bank of America reportedly agreed in early 2018 to a 20-year lease for floors five through seven, about 127,000 square feet. The deal added to its Bryant Park holdings, which included the One Bryant Park tower and the 1100 Avenue of the Americas office building. Other tenants then included Bain & Company, iStar and Oak Hill Advisors.

    Source: commercialobserver.com

Further reading

Nearby

All 178 buildings with stories in Midtown