Coty Building Façade (New York City, New York)

 Art Nouveau / Jugendstil (architecture), interesting place, historic landmark, historical building, commercial building, French Renaissance (architecture)

6-story French-Classical commercial building originally completed in 1871 as a rowhouse for Charles A. Gould. The facade was replaced in 1907-1908, when Gould commissioned Woodruff Leeming to convert his home to commercial purposes. Retaining its original 1871 proportions, height and style, the converted limestone facade mimicked its neighbors. The mansard roof continued the line of the former parsonage of the 5th Avenue Presbyterian Church to the south and the Zabriskie residence to the north; and the overall French style melded into the environment. The design of Gould’s renovation was unique – the first two floors being a single retail unit and the third through fifth floors being treated as a whole -- essentially a wall of glass structurally and architecturally far ahead of its time.

The entire building was leased to perfumer Francois Coty in 1910 to serve as his American headquarters. Immediately after acquiring the property, Francois Coty commissioned the famous French glassmaker, Rene Lalique, to replace the wall of windows on the central floors. The extraordinary 3-story work of art, reminiscent of the Art-Nouveau designs that made the artist world-renowned, consists of intertwining vines and flowers climbing up the side windows while leaving the central-most panes clear. Coty occupied the three floors with the Lalique windows and subleased the first two floors to the Stage Society of New York and the top floor to various tenants. A year after Francois Coty’s retirement in 1940, the firm moved to 423 West 55th Street. The building, however, would continue to be referred to as The Coty Building.

Clad in limestone, the first two floors are designed as a unit framing a storefront. Flanking limestone piers set on paneled bases support a modillioned cornice carried on console brackets which flow over simple capitals. The 3rd-5th floors are also handled as a unit, surrounded by an overall limestone enframement with architrave motif and bell-flower pendants. Crisply modelled cast-steel spandrels separate the 3rd & 4th, and 4th & 5th floors. Keystone in the spandrels accent several of the windows. Each floor contains five window bays, separate only by vertical steel mullions; the outer mullions have decorative motifs. The central bay at the 3rd floor is accented by an arched pediment with scallop motif, carried on diminutive brackets. This window bay articulation is original to the building, but the original casements were removed for the insertion of the Lalique glass windows. Each bay contains a multi-paned casement set below a multi-paned transom. The glass itself is approximately one-half inch thick, set in metal frames, with the raised portion of the design facing the exterior. A modillioned cornice with console brackets supporting a balustrade sets off the top, attic floor. The sloping metal-covered roof of this floor contains two segmental-arched dormers that flank skylights set flush with the roof.

In 1984 rumors of plans to demolish Nos. 712 and 714 to create an L-shaped 44-story skyscraper circulated. Preservationists scrambled to protect the buildings, noting in part that the Coty Building contained three stories of irreplaceable and priceless Rene Lalique windows. In 1986, all 276 of the 14”x 14” Lalique panels were removed from the facade and restored by the Greenland Studio of Manhattan. Unfortunately, 46 panels were deemed damaged beyond repair and had to be replicated by Jon Smiley Glass Studios of Philadelphia. Although both buildings were granted landmark designation; it applied only to the facades; the Rizzoli and Coty Buildings' facades survive in the form of stage sets in front of the 712 Fifth Avenue tower rising behind. Beyer, Blinder Architects restored the facade in 1990 during a renovation of the interior for the flagship store of Henri Bendel, sadly sacrificing the former interior by L. Alavoine & Co. A 4-story atrium replaced the former Coty offices, and observation levels were added inside so that Rene Lalique’s windows could be viewed from various floors.

s-media.nyc.gov/agencies/lpc/lp/1534.pdf
digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/510d47dc-9b97-a3d9-e0...
www.nytimes.com/2010/12/19/realestate/19streetscapes.ht...
www.artdeco.org/lalique-facade
www.nytimes.com/1991/02/28/nyregion/a-belle-of-fifth-av...