Image Credit: Google Maps.
On March 9, 2024, the Landmarks Preservation Commission held a public hearing for the designation of the Heckscher (Crown) Building. The building, at 750 Fifth Avenue, is one of Fifth Avenue’s earliest skyscrapers.
The 25-story building was designed in the French Renaissance Revival style by Warren & Wetmore and was completed in 1922. The building was one of the first to conform to the 1916 zoning resolution that required setbacks for taller buildings. The building’s facade features limestone, buff brick, and cream terracotta bands. The roof has large dormer windows and bull’s eye windows, and a multi-story chimney stack with a rooster-shaped weathervane.
The originally commercial building was planned to have stores, offices, and showrooms. The Museum of Modern Art held its inaugural exhibition here in November 1929, and rented several floors of the building for several years. The building was renamed the Crown Building in 1983 and the upper floors were converted to a hotel and residences in 2022.
At the public hearing, several people testified in support of the designation. Andrea Goldwyn, Director of Public Policy at the New York Landmarks Conservancy, discussed the building’s cultural history and architectural significance. Lucie Levine, Preservation Advocacy and Community Outreach Manager at the Historic Districts Council, testified that the building “represents the architectural evolution of grandeur in New York City.”
The Landmarks Preservation Commission will vote at a later date.
By: Veronica Rose (Veronica is the Editor of CityLand and a New York Law School graduate, Class of 2018.)