The 1911 Stern Building - 28-30 West 23rd Street

By the turn of the last century the Stern Brothers Department store had been enlarged twice.  It sat mid-block between Fifth and Sixth Avenues on West 23rd Street, the northern edge of shopping district known today as the Ladies' Mile.  The store's tremendous success had necessitated two large, architecturally seamless wings on either side of the original 1878 structure.

Next door was the Queen Anne-style Conover Building, erected for J. B. Conover & Co., a prominent manufacturer of "grates, fenders, fireplaces, wood mantels, and tiles."  Following that firm's bankruptcy in 1893 Stern Brothers expanded into the building; but that, too, proved insufficient.

After J. B. Conover & Co. left their building (left) Stern Brothers pasted its name above the ground floor show windows. The original Stern Brothers store is the central, slightly higher building.  from the collection of the New York Public Library

In 1910 Stern Brothers commissioned the well-known architectural firm of Maynicke & Franke to replace the six-story Conover Building with a twelve-story "annex" that would extend through the block (taking the place of four brownstones on 22nd Street).  Unlike the earlier expansions, the building would make no attempt to meld with the main store.

Entire faced in limestone, the annex, was completed in 1911 and towered over the main store.  It flexed its individual personality with monumental, two story columns at street level.  Their colossal size, intricately decorated fluting and ornate Scamozzi capitals provide a stately presence.  A full-width stone balcony above the third floor introduced the relatively unadorned central section.   Smooth, engaged columns at the 11th and 12th floors support the heavy brackets of the slightly arched cornice.

The dignified structure cost more than $18.5 million in  today's dollars.  It came with another horrible expense as well--the loss of a worker's life.   James Thompson was doing electrical work as the building neared completion on May 19, 1911 with a mason on the seventh floor lost his grip on a brick.  The Sun reported "The brick from the seventh floor smashed his head and he died before an ambulance arrived."

The wider 22nd Street elevation is understandably less grand.

Even before plans were laid for the annex Stern Brothers was well aware that department stores were abandoning the Ladies' Mile.  The migration had started when Roland H. Macy announced plans to move to Herald Square in 1901.   Therefore, according to the Real Estate Record & Builders' Guide in 1913, "The new building was of the loft construction type, as it was recognized that a removal would probably soon be advisable."

And, indeed, a removal was soon to come.  In August 1913 Stern Brothers announced it would be relocating to 42nd Street.  Within the year the firm had hired Starret & Van Vleck to alter the the relatively new annex "for loft and store purposes."  The extensive renovations--including removing the excessive elevators (necessary to a department store but not a loft building), adding new beams, reinforced concrete floors and iron staircases--took a year to complete.

Now called The Stern Building, the remodeled structure quickly filled with tenants.  Walker & Heisler signed a lease for the store and basement--fully 50,000 square feet, in July 1915.  The well-known carpet store had been on East 16th Street for many years.  The $16,000 annual rent was substantial--more than $33,500 per month today.

A major tenant was Chicago-based mail order firm Montgomery Ward & Company.  In May 1915 it leased the eighth through the 11th floors for its buying offices and factory space for its "women's wearing apparel and millinery."

Another well-known tenant would be the W. T. Grant Company, which signed a lease in June for the fourth floor.  The firm operated "25-cent department stores" nationwide.  The Record & Guide reported "The space will be used for general offices and for the buying and distributing of merchandise."

Another of the intial leasers was the World's Market Corporation, which took the 12th floor and subsequently simplified and revamped buying trips of out-of-town merchandise buyers.   Now, rather than rushing from building to building, buyers could visit 75 showrooms in one location.   The World's Market was opened in March 1915.

The American Angler explained a few weeks later, "The floor is laid out with rows of big, roomy, mahogany showcases, equipped with easy rolling glass doors.  A buyer may examine any garment in a moment and replace it so that it is always fresh and clean.  On the 22d Street side of the floor is a series of private booths occupied by manufacturers who prefer to show their goods in private.  The booths are elegantly furnished and most of them have mirrors and wardrobes."

A 1915 advertisement blurred the abutting buildings--an early form of photo-shopping. Dry Goods Economist, February 6, 1915 (copyright expired) 

Because the sales staff was furnished by World's Market Corporation, not the manufacturers, the buyers were not pressured.  "Our salespeople display the lines you want to see, without preference," said an ad.  On March 14, 1915 The New York Times supported the claim, saying "The merchandise is shown and the orders are taken by the sales force employed by the corporation.  In other words, there are no commissions paid by manufacturers to tempt the sales force to thrust goods on the buyers."

At the time Americans were just getting used to paying the new Federal Income Tax, ratified in 1913.  Now the Stern Building received an unexpected tenant.  The New-York Tribune reported on September 18, 1919 that the second floor had been leased to "the United States Government, Department of Internal Revenue."

The department not only oversaw the collection of income tax, but the enforcement of Prohibition.  The State Director of Prohibition, Charles R. O'Connor, shared the second floor with the Federal agents.  His office was responsible for, among other things, "the granting of many permits of one kind or another," according to The Sun on February 22, 1920.  "It is at this office that physicians and druggists are given their permits, as well as the manufacturers who want to use non-beverage alcohol."  O'Connor's agents also did investigations, making sure, for instance, that a hair-tonic manufacturer was using his alcohol for hair-tonic.

The Federal offices were understandably besieged at tax time.  On February 15, 1920 the New-York Tribune reported "The Collector is prepared to handle a flood of returns in the next four weeks--the last day for filing returns is March 15."  The office anticipated "close to $1,500,000,000" in payments, according to the article.

Later that year the IRA moved downtown.  In 1921 the Stern Building received several new tenants, including A. Barsa & Bro., manufacturers of silk kimonos, which took two floors; the Dexter Folder Company, which leased space for its executive offices and showroom; and the Reuben H. Donnelly Corporation, which took the fifth floor.

Although the Reuben H. Donnelly Corporation published a variety of items, it was best known for its Classified Telephone Directory--later known as the Yellow Pages.  It would remain in the building throughout the 1920's, as did the W. T. Grant Company and in the Walker & Heisler carpet store.

As disturbing changes in German politics were taking place in the 1930's, the Paris Decorators Corporation had its general offices in the Stern Building.  The interior decorating firm had nine branch stores in Manhattan, Brooklyn and Newark.    In September 1933 it closed its German office.  Seven months later The New York Times ran the headline "Decorators Ban Reich Goods" and explained that the firm "announced yesterday that it had discontinued all purchases in Germany."

For decades thieves city-wide had taken advantage of the fact that workers were paid in cash.  They carefully watched the movements of employees, learning their routines of trips to the bank.  The rash of payday armed robberies during the Depression years prompted the New York Police Department to offer an armed escort around 1934.  The Divineform Brassiere Company, Inc. chose to take its chances.

On July 1, 1936 The Times reported "Shortly after 2:30 yesterday afternoon three men, at least one of whom was armed, followed Max Ladenheim, manager of the company, into an elevator, forced him and five other passengers to raise their hands, took an envelope containing between $2,300 and $3,000 and escaped."   Police officials did not hide their annoyance, telling reporters that The Divineform Brassier Company "had failed to take advantage of protection offered."

At the time of the robbery Universal Camera occupied a floor in the building.  Photography and home movies were a popular national hobby.  The firm not only manufactured still cameras, but had perfected the portable 8-mm. movie camera. 

The company cleverly pushed its Mercury model camera in the summer of 1941 by staging a photography competition.  It offered $1,000 in prizes for the best pictures; the catch being that they had to be made using only that camera.

When the United States entered World War II, Universal Camera Corporation turned its focus on making military binoculars.  Workers were paid $20 to $30 a week for what was termed "war jobs."  The work also exempted them from military service under the Selective Service's "work of fight" order.

Five men hired in the fall and winter of 1943-1944 took advantage of the exemption.   They soon left, taking jobs that earned them much more, but did not bother to notify the Selective Service.  All five were arrested on March 27, 1945 for avoiding the draft.

Following the war Universal Camera Corporation returned to developing and making cameras.  In October 1947 it introduced its new 16-mm. sound projector, the Tonemaster.  It touted the "8-inch dynamic speaker, heavy-duty five-tube amplifier, [and] built-in microphone."

Two years later two employees, David Whittaker and Norma Holt, would be the victims of a bizarre and horrible crime.  The 33-year old Whittaker was the assistant to Universal Camera's president, Otto Githens.  He lived in the London Terrace Apartments a few blocks west on 23rd Street and was carrying on an affair with the married 30-year old Norma Holt.

Norma's mother, Mrs. Elsie Thomas, lived in Hollywood, California.  She received a call from Norma on the night of March 9, 1949.   The call was coming from David Whittaker's apartment and a gun was pointed at Norma's head.  Mrs. Thomas later said "I knew something was wrong when I heard Norma sniffling.  She would never worry me unless something serious was the matter."

Norma's husband, Emory, suddenly grabbed the received.  He told his mother-in-law, "I'm very sorry for what I'm about to do."  Mrs. Thomas told investigators "I pleaded with him, but he said, 'It's too late, mama.'"

Mrs. Thomas then heard a three gun shots.  "I dropped the phone and fell over in hysterics."  She made a frantic call to a friend in New York, telling her to call the police.

The New York Times reported "The scene they beheld when they entered with a passkey from the superintendent was reminiscent of a Hollywood melodrama, except that this was real-life tragedy."

David Whittaker was seated upright on the sofa with bullet wounds to the head.  Next to him was Norma Holt, "wearing a printed silk blouse and blue skirt."  She was shot through the heart and in the head.  "Slumped over a chair and an end-table near the sofa was the body of Mr. Holt, his fingers still gripping the pistol, with a bullet through the heart, fired, the police said, by himself after killing his wife."

Throughout the rest of the century the building continued to house a variety of businesses.  In 1986 the upper floors were converted to offices.  When the Home Depot took over the the former Stern Brothers Department Store building in 2004, it was internally joined with the Stern Building at ground level.

photographs by the author

Philipsborn & Co's No. 1 West 22nd Street

West 22^nd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues in 1870 was somewhat surprising.  High end residences of the well-to-do graced the block; such as that of inventor Samuel F. B. Morse as No. 5.  And yet just two lots away, at No. 1, and directly behind the Fifth Avenue mansions of some of the city’s wealthiest citizens, was the private carriage house of Benjamin Nathan.   

Nathan was a wealthy stockbroker and his stable sat directly behind his mansion at No. 12 West 23^rd Street.  That year The New York Times described the house as “lavish to excess” and “one of the most elegant and spacious of the private residences of the City.”  It would become the scene of one of Manhattan’s most baffling and publicized murders.

On the stormy evening of July 28 the 56-year old retired for the night in a make-shift bedroom in the second reception room.  Renovations being done upstairs prevented his using his bedroom.   At 5:45 a.m. his son Frederick was awakened by his brother’s screams for help from the second floor.  He rushed to his father’s room and there on a blood-soaked carpet laid his father’s body, bludgeoned beyond recognition.  “When I stepped up to his body I felt my stocking grow cold as the blood came upon them,” he told investigators.

Despite heavy suspicion that Nathan’s son, Washington, was guilty of the crime, the murder would never be solved.  The Nathan family left No. 12 West 23^rd Street.  The mansion and carriage house sat vacant for years, unable to find a tenant because of what newspapers attributed to “unpleasant associations.”

As the turn of the century approached, the once-elegant residential tone of West 23^rd Street faded.  Venerable mansions were converted to commercial purposes or razed.  The Nathan mansion and its stable became the offices of Henry Plant’s Southern Express Company in the 1890s; then were taken over by the Adams Express Company.

The United States Trust Company, trustee of the Nathan Estate, announced its intentions to raze the two structures to erect “a modern building on the site.”  It changed its mind when real estate operator Solomon Tim agreed to a long-term lease amounting to over $1 million in December 1903.  On Saturday, December 5 the New-York Daily Tribune ran a headline that read “Million Dollar Lease Recalls the Nathan Murder.”

The Tribune noted “Mr. Tim will make extensive alterations to the property."  Even before he signed the lease Solomon had found a sub-tenant for the two buildings.   Nearby was the store of M. Philipsboro & Co., dealers in “ladies’ suits and kindred articles,” according to the newspaper.  The company also manufactured and imported women’s cloaks.   Tim’s “extensive alterations” would make both the mansion and the carriage house unrecognizable.

The 23^rd Street building was given a cast iron façade appropriate to the high-end emporium.   The carriage house behind it was razed and in July 1904 architects Schickel & Ditmars were hired to design its replacement.  The firm produced a charming 20-foot wide annex faced in iron, completed only four months later.  While other 23^rd Street retail stores used their back entrances for shipping and receiving; the little Philipsborn building created additional store space on the first floor and loft space above.

The charming fire escape landings of scrolled iron were installed later.

When the new building was completed in November 1904, M. Philipsborn & Co. signed a 15-year lease with Solomon Tim.  “The building is to be used in connection with No. 12 West Twenty-third-st.,” reported the New-York Tribune.  “The aggregate rental for the two buildings is $650,000.” 

The hefty rent payments were due in quarterly installments of $27,500—about $742,000 today.  Two weeks after the lease was signed, the Real Estate Record & Builders’ Guide reported that a three-story extension would be built to connect the two structures.  “There will be steam heat, electric lights and plumbing.  Cost, about $5,000.”  Architect Simeon B. Eisendrath was responsible for the extension.

The architects' attention to detail is reflected in the foliate brackets and filigree sprandrels.

In May 1905 Solomon Tim transferred title to the two buildings to brothers Louis, Benjamin and Isaac Stern whose massive department store, Stern Brothers, was located just down the block from No. 12 West 23^rd.   Although it would seem that the competing Stern Brothers and M. Philipsborn & Co. concerns would make uneasy bedfellows, the landlord-leasee relationship lasted for years.

In March 1910 the new head of Philipsborn & Co. announced “a number of extensive alterations” to the store.  But, he promised readers of the New-York Tribune, “everything is expected to be in full swing by Easter.”  None of the updates seem to have affected the little building on West 22^nd Street, however.  “Among the changes contemplated are a number of additional fitting rooms, the enlarging of the alteration department and the installing of a new method for displaying garments which will do away with tedious delays.”  The store’s carriage trade clientele was reflected in its price tags.   A black satin or black peau de soie dress would cost the buyer $30—around $760 today.

But something happened later that year.   By December 1910 the announcement had been made that Philipsborn & Co. was “retiring from business.”  The business was taken over by Rosenbaum & Co. which continued to offer top of the line garments to feminine customers.

The new store kicked off with a massive sale -- The Evening World, December 16, 1910 (copyright expired)

The sudden “retirement” of Philipsborn & Co. is possibly explained by the law suit initiated by the Stern brothers against Maximilian Philipsborn in 1914 “for $30,853.70 plus interest for past due rent.”

By June 1925 the little building was dwarfed by massive industrial structures.  One horse-drawn delivery wagon shares the street with motorized trucks.  Photo from the collection of the New York Public Library

No. 1 West 22^nd Street continued to be leased as a unit with No. 12 West 23^rd Street for decades.  In 1917 the Isaac Stern Estate leased the properties to Robins Bros. at $11,000 per year; and on January 15, 1932 Savoy Manufacturing Company took over both buildings, selling “toys, house furnishings and novelties.”

Eventually, after being subservient to the 23^rd Street property for nearly a century, the quaint turn-of-the-century building regained its independence.  The upper floors and the store space at street level have been home to a variety of small businesses.   Schickel & Ditmars’s pleasing design is little changed—a near miracle resulting from its small scale and its long-term connection to the commercial building behind it.

photographs by the author

Stern Brothers Dry Goods -- West 23rd Street

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.”


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.”



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.

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.

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.

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