Squibb Building

745 5th Avenue | also 12 East 58th Street | Midtown | built 1930

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. 1929

    July

    E. R. Squibb & Sons leases the top 12 floors, and the new tower takes the Squibb name

    In July 1929 the drug maker E. R. Squibb & Sons signed a 21-year, $7 million lease for the top twelve floors of the planned tower at Fifth Avenue and 58th Street, and the building became the Squibb Building. Foundation work had not yet started. The developer Abe Adelson called the lease proof that upper Fifth Avenue was a prestige address, and in August he leased the neighboring site at 743 Fifth Avenue to protect the building's views.

    Source: Wikipedia

  2. 1931

    Ely Jacques Kahn dresses as his own Squibb Building for the Beaux-Arts Ball

    Ely Jacques Kahn, who designed the Squibb Building with Albert Buchman, liked the design so much that he made the developer Abe Adelson agree to consult him on any changes. Kahn wore a costume of the building itself to a 1931 party thrown by the Society of Beaux-Arts Architects. The writer Jewel Stern called the costume the wittiest salute to the design.

    Source: Wikipedia

  3. 1931

    FAO Schwarz moves its New York flagship to 745 Fifth Avenue and stays for 55 years

    The toy retailer moved in 1931 to the Squibb Building near 58th Street and stayed there for 55 years. In 1986, after a sale to Peter Harris and Peter Morse, the store moved to 767 Fifth Avenue in the General Motors Building.

    Source: 6sqft

  4. 1990

    Bergdorf Goodman Men opens in the old FAO Schwarz space with a putting green and a party of 1,000

    Bergdorf Goodman Men, a 45,000-square-foot store that cost $20 million, opened in late summer 1990 on three floors, in the former FAO Schwarz space. A private opening party drew more than 1,000 guests, including Henry Kravis and the designers Bill Blass, Michael Kors and Isaac Mizrahi. The Los Angeles firm J.T. Nakaoka Associates designed it with a putting green and a resident golf pro, and the chairman aimed for $40 million in first-year sales.

    Source: latimes.com

Further reading

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