Midtown Fifth Avenue is New York’s best-known
boulevard and home to three of its most famous buildings. In the late
1800s, it was lined with mansions belonging to prominent families, but
as retailers moved north in the 1900s, society fled uptown. One of the
former mansions that remains is the Cartier building, reputedly acquired
from banker Morton F. Plant in 1917 in exchange for a string of pearls.
Although commercial enterprises now share the avenue, it has remained a
mecca for luxury goods. Fifth Avenue is at its best on Easter Sunday
when traffic is barred and the street is filled with New Yorkers in
elaborate hats.
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The heart of Fifth Avenue is from the Empire State Building on
34th St, to the Grand Army Plaza, 59th St
, an easily walkable stretch of just over one mile (1.6 km)
Tourist Information
New York Public Library
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From its inception in the
early 19th century, Fifth Avenue has been the territory of New York’s
well-heeled society, with homes costing the princely sum of $20,000
after the Civil War. As retail and commercial ventures, albeit exclusive
ones, encroached on the wealthy’s patch toward the end of the 19th
century, they moved their palacial residences further north along Fifth
Avenue. This trend was set by Mrs Astor who moved up to 65th Street
after her nephew, William Waldorf Astor, built the Waldorf Hotel next to
her former home.
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Grand Army Plaza
This
ornamented plaza is presided over by the 1907 Plaza Hotel and Augustus
Saint-Gaudens’ statue of General William T. Sherman. Hansom cab rides
through Central Park can be boarded here.
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Bergdorf Goodman
Founded
in 1894 as a small ladies’ tailoring and fur shop, the most élite
department store has been here since 1928. A separate shop for men was
opened in 1990 across Fifth Avenue.
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General Motors Building
Edward
Durrell Stone’s 1968 marble skyscraper is of interest not for its
architecture but for the CBS studio in the plaza area and the F.A.O.
Schwarz toy store adjacent.
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Tiffany and Company
Truman Capote’s 1958 Breakfast at Tiffany’s made this the most famous jewelry store in New York. The window displays are works of art.
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Trump Tower
A six-story open interior space, the Trump Tower Atrium is graced by hanging gardens and a spectacular 80-ft (24-m) water wall.
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Cartier
Look
up to admire what remains of the fine 1905 Beaux Arts mansion housing
this famous luxury jeweler. During the Christmas season, the whole
building is wrapped in a giant red ribbon.
Cartier façade, decorated for Christmas
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St. Patrick’s Cathedral
In
1878 James Renwick, Jr. designed New York’s grandest religious building
in French Gothic style. The bronze doors, the baldachin over the high
altar, the Lady Chapel, and the rose window are among its notable
features.
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Saks Fifth Avenue
One
of New York’s most attractive stores, Saks is famous for the changing
seasonal decor on the main floor of its 1924 building, as well as for
its exclusive fashions for men and women.
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New York Public Library
The
epitome of Beaux Arts elegance, this 1911 landmark features vaulted
marble halls and a paneled reading room that glows with light from great
arched windows.
Public Library’s guardian lion
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Lord and Taylor
Retailing
on Fifth Avenue since 1914, Lord and Taylor offers a mix of fashions
for budgets low and high. The store is known for its animated Christmas
windows.