673 Fifth Avenue

 office building, commercial building

7-story office building completed in 1914 as a 6-story building. Designed by Thomas Hastings (of the firm of Carrère & Hastings), it is clad in brown brick above a 2-story limestone base that has been more recently remodeled. Around 1916, Elizabeth Arden relocated here from 509 Fifth Avenue. It later housed the national headquarters of the American Institute of Decorators in the 1950's.

The base now has 2-story openings at the one wide bay facing the avenue, and the four west bays on 53rd Street, each filled with plate-glass and topped by bands of rough-faced stone; the piers also have bases of rough-faced stone. There is a glass door at the north end of the wide bay on the avenue. Behind this bay and the westernmost bay on the south facade can be seen the white, spiraling staircase inside that connects the ground floor with a 2nd-floor mezzanine, and the upper floors. The three bays to the east of the westernmost bay on 53rd have white metal spandrels dividing the two lower floors. To the east there are three more double-height bays, but these have no openings - just stone panels with projecting stone bands at the top that match those above the window bays, except for being smooth instead of rough-faced. At the far east end is a slightly-recessed bay with a glass-and-metal door and sidelight at the ground floor, atop a small set of granite steps. A simple, projecting band course caps the base.

The brick upper floors have two bays of single-windows facing the avenue, and eight bays along the south facade, with the east end bay slightly recessed. The 3rd floor is banded and capped by a band course, except at the east end bay. The five western bays (and those on the west facade) have single-windows, while the next two bays have a metal vent and brick infill, respectively. There are no openings at all in these two bays on the 4th & 5th floors (where the bays are separated by projecting piers), and the east end bay has smaller single-windows at each floor. The piers have stylized capitals with a stone cornice above the 5th floor.

The 6th floor also has slightly-projecting brick piers with stylized capitals. All of its bays have single-windows, except the 4th bay from the west and the 2nd bay from the east, which have double-windows. The two east bays next to the end bay set back above the 6th floor. To the west there are three single-windows, another pair of single-windows, and a final single-window in the west end bay. A stone cornice caps the roof line. The east end bay is topped by a water tower.

The building is currently owned--and largely occupied by--Kingsville Investments.

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