Herald Center (New York City, New York)

 clothing store, department store, 1902_construction, commercial building

9-story mercantile building originally completed in 1902 as a 7-story Saks & Company Department Store designed by Buchman & Fox. When Horace Saks decided to build a new store on 5th Avenue, which opened in 1924, he sold the entire operation to Bernard Gimbel. The old building here became a division of the adjacent Gimbels, with a bridge connecting it, and was renamed Saks 34th Street.

After Gimbels closed the dated store in 1965 (no escalators), the building was remodeled and covered with a modern facade, reopening in 1967 as E.J. Korvette, a discount department store. In 1985, the building was gutted and a glass facade was installed. It was renamed Herald Center and reopened as a vertical shopping mall, though it was not a success. It housed, for many years, the flagship store of Toys R Us. The glassy exterior was largely remodeled again in 2015, with transparent panes replacing the black-tinted glass panels at the lower three floors. The existing black-tinted panes above the third floor remain, but are now covered by colorful LED lighting panels.

It is now a location of the H&M clothing store, with ASA College as another major tenant. The ground floor is also occupied by a Bank of America branch, and a Verizon wireless store.

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