Stewart Building

402 5th Avenue | also 404 5th Avenue | Midtown | built 1914

Open on the map4 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. 1914

    December 28

    Warren & Wetmore complete the Stewart Building for Robert Goelet

    Architect Whitney Warren of Warren & Wetmore, uncle of developer Robert Walton Goelet, designed an eight-story building on Fifth Avenue between 35th and 36th Streets, mixing Chicago School storefronts with neoclassical upper floors. Built between July and December 1914 for about $250,000, its facade was faced in an unusual blue-and-white terra cotta resembling Wedgwood jasperware.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

  2. 1914

    Mark Cross and Stewart & Co. open stores in the new building

    The leather goods retailer Mark Cross opened its relocated store in the building on October 19, 1914, sharing the ground floor with the women's apparel retailer Stewart & Co. Milliners Gage Brothers & Co. were among the original tenants on the upper floors.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

  3. 1929

    Emily Shops moves into the former Stewart & Co. space

    Stewart & Co. left the building in 1929, and the women's clothing chain Emily Shops moved into its space, agreeing to pay $150,000 a year to Mark Cross, the building's master tenant, which leased the whole property from owner Robert W. Goelet. Mark Cross kept its own corner store until 1935, when it opened a new store at Fifth Avenue and 52nd Street, and Emily Shops remained into the 1950s. The upper floors held a changing mix of milliners, watchmakers, and publishers through the mid-20th century. By 1975 the ground floor had become a bank branch and the eighth floor a squash and racquet club.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

  4. 2006

    April 18

    The city designates the Stewart Building a landmark

    New York City's Landmarks Preservation Commission designated the building a city landmark on April 18, 2006. By then it had passed through several owners since Robert Goelet's death in 1941, including a 1967 sale and a 1998 purchase by Prince Management.

    Source: Wikipedia

Further reading

Nearby

All 178 buildings with stories in Midtown