The Stern brothers, Louis, Benjamin and Isaac, sons of German Jewish immigrants, started their dry goods business in Buffalo, New York in 1867. A year later, they moved their one-room store to New York City. With apparent marketing genius, the brothers quickly outgrew two stores and by 1878, despite the financial panic that was bankrupting businesses nation-wide, were ready to make their mark on Manhattan’s emporium district.
As great stores crept up Sixth Avenue from 14th Street, creating what would become The Ladies’ Mile, Sterns Brothers Dry Goods opted for 23rd Street, around the corner. Wide brownstone residences lined most of the block and the imposing white marble Booth’s Theatre anchored the corner of Sixth Avenue and 23rd Street. The brothers purchased three lots in the middle of the block, between Fifth and Sixth Avenues and commissioned German-born architect Henry Fernbach to design their store.
On June 2, 1878, The New York Times announced the anticipated store. “On Twenty-third street the neighborhood of Sixth-avenue is to be improved by the erection on the lots Nos. 32, 34, and 36 of a store, about 75 feet front, for Stern Brothers…The estimated cost is about $100,000.” The article said the new building would be five stories tall, occupied entirely by Stern Brothers and was expected to be completed “early next year.”
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| Stern Brothers Dry Goods Store in 1878, surrounded by brownstone residences with Booth's Theatre at 6th Avenue - print from the NYPL Collection |
Instead, the impressive cast iron-faced emporium was finished in five months and one day. Displayed within the Renaissance Revival-style emporium were imported goods targeting middle-class to upper-class shoppers. On opening day, October 22, 1878, The New York Times reported, “Among the novelties of which Mr. Stern is particularly proud is a large ostrich feather made in imitation of an American flag, the first ever made. The display of lace goods is very fine. The novelty display is too varied and extensive to attempt description and the same is true of all the other departments. The firm expects to have everything in apple-pie order before the opening hour this morning.”
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| Stern Brothers' Monogram Over the Entrance -- photo dshistory.com |
In a forward-thinking innovation, the Stern brothers installed a dining room for employees in the basement. A separate carriage entrance on 22nd Street ensured that the wealthier customers did not have to rub shoulders with the more common shoppers who entered on 23rd Street. Doormen in silk top hats held the doors. Invitations were sent to preferred customers and private showings were held annually when new fashions were introduced.
Within only two years, the new store was too small. “The remarkable increase in the business of the Messrs. Stern Brothers, the dry goods merchants, has made imperatively necessary the building of a large addition to their already spacious store,” said The New York Times on August 6, 1880. The houses abutting the building at 23, 25 and 27 West 23rd Street were purchased and expansion begun. In order to rush construction, powerful electric lights were brought in so workman could work throughout the night.
The extension did not pretend to be anything but an addition; there was no attempt to create the illusion that both sections had been designed together. Nevertheless the arched windows and connecting cornices joined the original to create a handsome façade.
While Fifth Avenue socialites would shop here for imported Worth suits in 1879, priced at $375, for instance, or one by Pingat in beige-colored silk for $400, less moneyed shoppers could choose among items like parasols ranging from $2.50 to $25.00. In 1884, The New York Times remarked, “And believing the nimble sixpence to be better than the slow shilling, they mark their goods at prices of which no reasonable buyer can complain.”
The Sterns' marketing strategies and diversity of merchandise worked. In 1885, another extension was planned. “Not content with the enormous business which they have heretofore done in their large establishment on West Twenty-third street, Stern Brothers last year determined upon enlarging their actual selling space and decided to build an extension to their building,” said The New York Times on September 21, 1886.
One hundred square feet of land was purchased between 22nd and 23rd street to the west of the building and on June 30, 1886 construction began. Within three months, the $150,000 addition was completed, matching the first addition to the east. Sterns was now employing a staff of over 1,500. The structure was lit by 1,800 incandescent lamps – the largest amount in any building to date–and thirteen elevators took patrons throughout the store. On the second floor was a “unique little reception room, fitted up with artistic taste for the lady shopper…and Stern’s to-day is the only place in the city where such a thing can be found,” reported The New York Times.
The enormous space was still not enough and in 1892 architect William Schickel enlarged the building for the final time.
Within only two years, the new store was too small. “The remarkable increase in the business of the Messrs. Stern Brothers, the dry goods merchants, has made imperatively necessary the building of a large addition to their already spacious store,” said The New York Times on August 6, 1880. The houses abutting the building at 23, 25 and 27 West 23rd Street were purchased and expansion begun. In order to rush construction, powerful electric lights were brought in so workman could work throughout the night.
The extension did not pretend to be anything but an addition; there was no attempt to create the illusion that both sections had been designed together. Nevertheless the arched windows and connecting cornices joined the original to create a handsome façade.
While Fifth Avenue socialites would shop here for imported Worth suits in 1879, priced at $375, for instance, or one by Pingat in beige-colored silk for $400, less moneyed shoppers could choose among items like parasols ranging from $2.50 to $25.00. In 1884, The New York Times remarked, “And believing the nimble sixpence to be better than the slow shilling, they mark their goods at prices of which no reasonable buyer can complain.”
The Sterns' marketing strategies and diversity of merchandise worked. In 1885, another extension was planned. “Not content with the enormous business which they have heretofore done in their large establishment on West Twenty-third street, Stern Brothers last year determined upon enlarging their actual selling space and decided to build an extension to their building,” said The New York Times on September 21, 1886.
One hundred square feet of land was purchased between 22nd and 23rd street to the west of the building and on June 30, 1886 construction began. Within three months, the $150,000 addition was completed, matching the first addition to the east. Sterns was now employing a staff of over 1,500. The structure was lit by 1,800 incandescent lamps – the largest amount in any building to date–and thirteen elevators took patrons throughout the store. On the second floor was a “unique little reception room, fitted up with artistic taste for the lady shopper…and Stern’s to-day is the only place in the city where such a thing can be found,” reported The New York Times.
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| Sterns Brothers with the second addition to the west -- circa 1905 -- print NYPL Collection |
The enormous space was still not enough and in 1892 architect William Schickel enlarged the building for the final time.
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| Carriages wait for shoppers across from Sterns Brothers Dry Goods - 1903 -- photograph NYPL Collection |
In 1902, Macy’s moved from 14th Street to its gargantuan new store on 34th Street, sparking the upward migration of the retail stores from the Ladies’ Mile. One by one, the giant emporiums were abandoned until, on September 2, 1913, Stern Brothers joined the trend. The gleaming white 23rd Street store was emptied as Sterns moved north to 42nd Street.
The elaborate cast iron building that a century later the AIA Guide to New York City would say “reeks of birthday cake with vanilla icing” slowly declined. By mid-century, it had been converted to industrial and warehouse use, with a mish-mash of street-level stores.
Change came in the 1980s as the buildings along the Ladies’ Mile began being rediscovered. Hasbro Toys transformed the rusting structure into its offices and showroom. To prevent espionage of next season’s products, the company blocked out the ground floor windows. The former Stern Brothers store became widely known as the Hasbro Building.
It was during this time that the motion picture Big used the building as the headquarters of MacMillan Toy Company where Tom Hanks' character Josh Baskin went to work.
In 1986, an well-intentioned but unfortunate updating by Rothzeid Kaiserman Thomson & Bee removed much of the easterly two floors, replaced by glass curtains--starkly out of keeping with the architecture.
In 2001, the toy company relocated and the 120,000-square-foot space it had occupied became available. An unlikely tenant, Home Depot, took over the space in 2004 and Stern Brothers’ immense emporium shines again.
non-credited photographs taken by the author
The elaborate cast iron building that a century later the AIA Guide to New York City would say “reeks of birthday cake with vanilla icing” slowly declined. By mid-century, it had been converted to industrial and warehouse use, with a mish-mash of street-level stores.
Change came in the 1980s as the buildings along the Ladies’ Mile began being rediscovered. Hasbro Toys transformed the rusting structure into its offices and showroom. To prevent espionage of next season’s products, the company blocked out the ground floor windows. The former Stern Brothers store became widely known as the Hasbro Building.
It was during this time that the motion picture Big used the building as the headquarters of MacMillan Toy Company where Tom Hanks' character Josh Baskin went to work.
In 1986, an well-intentioned but unfortunate updating by Rothzeid Kaiserman Thomson & Bee removed much of the easterly two floors, replaced by glass curtains--starkly out of keeping with the architecture.
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| The Stern Brothers Building today, with the glaring 1986 glass curtain renovation |
In 2001, the toy company relocated and the 120,000-square-foot space it had occupied became available. An unlikely tenant, Home Depot, took over the space in 2004 and Stern Brothers’ immense emporium shines again.
non-credited photographs taken by the author
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A nice piece...as always. But a small point of clarification: the desecration of the top floors occurred well before 1986 - tho the current glazing may have been installed then - as the building was prominetly featured in "Cast Iron Architecture of New York" (c.1974), and it was extant even then.
ReplyDeletethanks for that clarification.
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