Bickford's Restaurants were a familiar presence in the urban New York landscape by the 1920s. Samuel L. Bickford opened his first cafe in 1902 and within two years he ran a chain of lunchrooms popularized by its affordable prices and quick service. The firm described its eateries saying they "are of the self-service type and serve a limited bill of fare, which makes possible the maximum use of equipment and a rapid turnover. Emphasis is placed on serving meals of high quality at moderate cost."
On December 18, 1928, The New York Times reported that Bickford's Lunch Systems had leased the five-story building at 459 Lexington Avenue on the northeast corner of 45th Street from Catalina Paez MacManus. The deal came with significant stipulations. MacManus demolished the old building and F. Russell Stuckert was hired to design a replacement structure for the leasee.
F. Russell Stuckert was the son of J. Franklin Stuckert. At the corner of the century, the father-and-son partnership landed a lucrative contract with Horn & Hardart to design its automats. J. F. Stuckert & Son dissolved in 1906, and the younger Stuckert established his own practice.
Completed in 1930, the three-story Bickford's building was faced in terra cotta. By chamfering the corner, Stuckert gave additional light to the upper floors. An Art Deco grill above the restaurant's doorway was mimicked in stained glass above the ground floor windows.
The elaborate Art Deco grill above the doorway was copied in glass over the vast plate glass windows. image via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services.
Fluted piers at the upper floors terminated in decorative elements that rose beyond the parapet. Between them were ornate Art Deco panels. An octagonal clock was embedded within the corner panel.
The Bickford's restaurant occupied the ground floor while the upper two were rented as offices and showrooms.
Two years after opening, a senseless spree forced Bickford's to replace several of the large ground floor plate glass windows. Between 8:30 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. on December 26, 1932, 24 windows were shot out in restaurants around the city--ten in Horn & Hardart automats and the rest in Bickford's lunchrooms. Among the targets was the Bickford's location at 459 Lexington Avenue. The vandalism was thought to be the act of mischievous youths, an expert glazier saying, "a sling-shot with a stout, forked frame and strong rubber bands as the catapulting agency easily might have made any of the holes."
In the meantime, the upper floors were leased to a variety of tenants. Moe Friedman, retailer of dresses, took space on the third floor in 1936, while Madame Fischer's Beauty Salon, owned by Rose Lowenfeld Fischer, occupied the second floor.
The New York Times explained that the Hungarian-born Rose Fischer had opened her first shop at 95 Second Avenue in 1905. "It became popular and was frequented by actresses of the Yiddish theatre," said the newspaper. By now, she owned nine salons.
image via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services.
Alexander Klein managed the beauty shop in 1938. On March 12 that year, a man entered and brandished a pistol. Instead of turning over the contents of the cash register, Klein fled down the stairs and found two policemen. By the time they returned, 31-year-old Hal Seften, who had arrived in New York City from Kansas City only a few weeks earlier, had fled. He did not get far. Police captured him on Lexington Avenue between 50th and 51st Streets. The pistol turned out to be a toy. He was charged with attempted robbery and a violation of the Sullivan Law (an early gun-control statute).
In 1966, Restaurant-Waldorf Associates leased the ground floor of 459 Lexington Avenue. The New York Times remarked that it operated "the Four Seasons and the Zum-Zum restaurants." The article noted, "The building is now occupied by a Rickford's Restaurant." Renovations were made to accommodate a new Zum-Zum branch.
The ground floor was modernized again in 1980. It now accommodated four shops. Le Croissant Shop moved into the large corner space. On May 6, 1981, Moira Hodgson explained in The New York Times that the restaurant, "is a family operation owned by Robert lamer, former head waiter at Le Cynge. The baking is done on the premises by a baker who has worked at Dumas, Delices La Cote Basque and Bonte."
The 1980 renovation affected only the ground floor. via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services.
F. Russell Stuckert's Art Deco design survived until 1992 when a new facade was installed that erased the building's architectural personality.
image via loopnet.com
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