Scribner Building

155 5th Avenue | also 153 5th Avenue | Flatiron | built 1894

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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. 1893

    October

    Charles Scribner's Sons buys the Glenham Hotel to replace it with a new headquarters

    In October 1893 Charles Scribner's Sons was reported to have bought the Glenham Hotel at 153 and 155 Fifth Avenue, which had opened on September 17, 1869. Charles Scribner II hired his brother-in-law Ernest Flagg to design a new building, and plans were filed that December.

    “In October 1893, Charles Scribner's Sons were reported as the buyers of the Glenham Hotel at 153 and 155 Fifth Avenue…”

    Source: Wikipedia

  2. 1894

    Ernest Flagg suggests glass shelves for Scribner's bookstore, made to order in France

    The New York Times reported that the Scribners fitted the whole store with glass shelves at Flagg's suggestion, since wood and iron shelving wore down the bindings of books. The glass was made to order in France in two sizes, three-quarters and one-half inch thick, with rounded edges. The Times said the Scribners were enthusiastic about it and that it was easy to keep clean.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

  3. 1894

    Flagg's steel frame is dressed to look like load-bearing masonry

    The Landmarks Preservation Commission's 1976 report notes that, although the building has a steel frame, Flagg kept up the look of a masonry bearing wall by making the facade seem lighter as it rises. The two lower stories are rusticated, the next two have smooth stone and double-height windows at the center, and the fifth is a continuous band of windows under a slate mansard roof. Carved dates on the parapet mark the firm's founding in 1846 and the building's erection in 1893.

    Source: NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission

  4. 1894

    May 25

    Charles Scribner's Sons moves into its new publishing headquarters

    Charles Scribner's Sons moved its publishing operations into architect Ernest Flagg's new limestone building on May 25, 1894, after buying the site of the old Glenham Hotel. Costing more than $500,000, it was built from the ground up for a publishing house, with a street-level bookstore fitted with custom glass shelving and upper floors devoted to offices, subscription, magazine and mailing departments.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

  5. 1910

    The Scribner's building is framed in bunting for Theodore Roosevelt's return from Africa

    When Theodore Roosevelt came home from his 1910 African safari, the Scribner's building was framed in bunting. A two-story picture of Roosevelt was decorated with two large flags. A Byron Company photograph of the scene is held by the Museum of the City of New York.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

  6. 1913

    Scribner's leaves 155 Fifth Avenue for a new headquarters uptown

    After two decades at 155 Fifth Avenue, Charles Scribner's Sons relocated in 1913 to a new building, also designed by Ernest Flagg, farther up Fifth Avenue. The Scribner family kept ownership of the original building and leased it to other businesses, including a 1934 remodel for the 153 Fifth Avenue Corporation, before finally selling it in 1951.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

  7. 1973

    The United Synagogue of America renames the building Rapaport House

    In 1973 the United Synagogue of America, later renamed the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism, bought the former publishing headquarters and renamed it Rapaport House. The organization occupied the building for more than three decades before it returned to commercial use, selling in 2007 for $26.5 million.

    Source: Wikipedia

  8. 1976

    September 14

    The Landmarks Preservation Commission designates the Scribner Building

    At a July 13, 1976 hearing, one witness spoke for designation and none against. On September 14, 1976, the Commission designated the Scribner Building and its lot a landmark, citing its Beaux-Arts design by Ernest Flagg and its long service as the home of Charles Scribner's Sons. The United Synagogue of America then owned it.

    Source: NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission

  9. 2007

    The United Synagogue sells the building for $26.5 million, and it resells a year later for $38 million

    The United Synagogue, whose organization of 700 affiliated congregations had used the building as its headquarters, sold it in 2007 to Philips International Holding Corp. for $26.5 million. The following year the buyer resold it for $38 million to the Eretz Group.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

Further reading

Nearby

All 20 buildings with stories in Flatiron