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The Demarest Building at 339
Fifth Avenue Fifth Avenue is a major and prominent thoroughfare in the borough of Manhattan in New York City. It stretches north from Washington Square Park in Greenwich Village to West 143rd Street in Harlem. It is one of the most expensive shopping stre ...
in
Midtown Manhattan Midtown Manhattan is the central portion of the New York City borough of Manhattan and serves as the city's primary central business district. Midtown is home to some of the city's most prominent buildings, including the Empire State Buildin ...
,
New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
was designed by Renwick, Aspinwall & Russell and constructed for
coachbuilder A coachbuilder or body-maker is someone who manufactures bodies for passenger-carrying vehicles.Construction has always been a skilled trade requiring a relatively lightweight product with sufficient strength. The manufacture of necessarily ...
Aaron T. Demarest Aaron T. Demarest (1841 – July 13, 1908) was an American carriage manufacturer and automobile body manufacturer. He built carriages in New York City for forty-eight years and luxury automobile bodies for six years. Biography Demarest was bo ...
. An 1893 fire destroyed property in the building, which was later used for other purposes. __NOTOC__


Description

The Demarest Building is on the northeast corner of Fifth Avenue and 33rd Street in
Midtown Manhattan Midtown Manhattan is the central portion of the New York City borough of Manhattan and serves as the city's primary central business district. Midtown is home to some of the city's most prominent buildings, including the Empire State Buildin ...
, just east of the
Empire State Building The Empire State Building is a 102-story Art Deco skyscraper in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. The building was designed by Shreve, Lamb & Harmon and built from 1930 to 1931. Its name is derived from "Empire State", the nickname of the st ...
. The building has been compared to
Carnegie Hall Carnegie Hall ( ) is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City. It is at 881 Seventh Avenue (Manhattan), Seventh Avenue, occupying the east side of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street (Manhattan), 56th and 57th Street (Manhatta ...
.


History

A July 26, 1893 fire destroyed property at the building. The building was later converted to other uses. By 2015, developer Pi Capital Partners planned to replace the building and neighboring structures with a new residential tower. In 2019, Pi Capital filed plans for a 26-story mixed-use development on the site of the Demarest Building, with 82 apartments. This prompted preservationists and groups, including the
Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation Village Preservation (formerly the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation, or GVSHP) is a non-profit organization which advocates for the preservation of architecture and culture in several neighborhoods of Lower Manhattan, New York. ...
, to petition the
New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) is the New York City agency charged with administering the city's Landmarks Preservation Law. The LPC is responsible for protecting New York City's architecturally, historically, and cu ...
(LPC) to designate the building as an official city landmark, thereby protecting it from demolition. The LPC expressed concern that the building's exterior had been altered too frequently throughout its history and the old building was not saved. , it is being replaced by a 21-story, 82-unit mixed-use building with commercial space at the base and up to five residential units on each floor.


References


Sources

* * * {{Fifth Avenue 1890 establishments in New York (state) Beaux-Arts architecture in New York City Fifth Avenue Midtown Manhattan