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Landmarks
Lord & Taylor Building, 424-434 Fifth Avenue, request for designation
WHEREAS, Samuel Lord and George Washington Taylor founded the Lord & Taylor Company in 1826; and
WHEREAS, In 1913-14 it opened its Fifth Avenue store (moving from the Ladies’ Mile), which was designed by the noted architectural firm of Starrett & Van Vleck, who also designed the Saks Fifth Avenue flagship building; and
WHEREAS, The building is architecturally “notable for its restrained yet monumental character,” its tall, deeply recessed entrance with a grand arch and ornamental “L&T” emblem, its deep copper cornice and two-story colonnade at the top of the building; and
WHEREAS, Its most prominent feature - its large ground floor display windows - are famous for their built-in engineering features and for their extraordinary Christmas displays viewed by thousands over the years; and
WHEREAS, Lord & Taylor is the oldest department store chain in the United States and was the first major store on Fifth Avenue to name a female, Dorothy Shaver, as president in 1945, who is credited with opening the first branch store in America, and with instituting innovative concepts such as the personal shopper; therefore be it
RESOLVED, That Community Board Five recommends that Lord & Taylor be designated an individual New York City landmark because it is architecturally, culturally and historically significant.
The above resolution passed with a vote of 18 in favor, 10 opposed, 1 abstention.