This is easily the most exquisite and elegant retail interior space in New York City. It’s a must-see for any visitor with a little extra time. Located at 867 Madison Avenue on the southeast corner of 72nd Street, it has been occupied by Ralph Lauren/Polo since 1986.

I was shocked to learn that this huge neo-French Renaissance limestone palace was actually unoccupied in the first 23 years of its existence. It was designed by Kimball & Thompson and built in 1898 for Gertrude Rhinelander Waldo, a wealthy socialite who dreamed of a French Loire Valley chateau. Rumored that she ran out of money before completion, the property was first occupied in 1921. Since that time, it has had various tenants: the auction house Christie’s of London, Zabar’s, the Olivetti Brothers, and photographers Edgar de Evia and his partner Robert Denning. De Evia’s mother, pianist Miirrha Alhambra, also resided there.

By the mid-1950s, de Evia and Denning had formed Denvia Realty, which held the net lease on the entire building. The top three floors were used as their studios and residence; offices were rented to the interior decorators Tate and Hall, and street-level shops were rented to various merchants, including a corner pharmacy and Rhinelander Florists.

It was purchased in the 1960s by a nearby church. In 1983, Ralph Lauren acquired the net lease. The building’s ownership has changed hands numerous times as well. TMW bought the building for $36 million in 1997, and in 2005, it was sold to an Irish investment group (Sloan Capital) for $80 million.
The gothic tile-covered mansard roof is spectacular, with oriels, dormers, and chimneys.

I know it is fashionable to bemoan the hegemony of large retailers on the American landscape, but one needs to give credit where it is due, and Ralph Lauren has done the Rhinelander mansion justice with a $14 million dollar renovation. Absolutely everything in the interior is just perfectly appointed. Even members of the sales staff are impeccably dressed and groomed – I actually mistook one for a haute couture mannequin.

The interior is an architectural masterpiece complemented with superb interior design. Crackling fireplace, sculpted vaulted ceilings, a magnificent stairway graced with paintings, antiques, furniture upholstered in cashmere, Lalique paneling, Persian carpets, and Baccarat chandeliers. To enter this place is to really leave the city behind and enter another time and place and one woman’s dream…

One must be careful in making condemnations of contemporary culture and claims regarding the degradation of society and romanticizing the past. There is no dearth of criticism regarding the “malling” of New York City and the invasion of big box retailers into the NYC marketplace. And, certainly, many of the criticisms are valid.

At first glance, when looking at this magnificent Beaux Arts building at 632 Avenue of the Americas, my first reaction was how inappropriate it was that this building would house Bed, Bath and Beyond, Filene’s Basement, and TJ Maxx.

A little research will reveal that this stretch of 6th Avenue (from 18th to 23 Street), replete with enormous architecturally wonderful buildings, was once known as the Ladies’ Mile and that the beautiful structures lining this avenue were originally built as department stores.

The most opulent was the Siegel-Cooper, originally designed by DeLemos & Cordes and built in 1896 as a discount department store for Siegel, Cooper & Co., who were based in Chicago. The New York store became a mecca for shoppers.

There was a fountain in the center of the lobby, which became a meeting place in New York. Jets of water cascaded over multicolored lights onto a marble and brass statue of The Republic.

So the large stores on the former Ladies” Mile should can be seen more as a reincarnation than invasion. I am reminded of various interpretations on nostalgia which I have heard – that the past always seems better than the present because we only remember the good parts…

Gothic meets drugs, sex, and rock and roll. Not such an unusual mix, actually. It’s just that we generally don’t think Gothic church. This place has actually been a neighborhood problem and has had a sordid history. It has been a nightclub since 1983, when it opened as The Limelight, owned by Peter Gatien and designed by Ari Bahat. Gatien owned a number of Limelight nightclubs (read about it here).
The space benefits, of course, from the incredible architecture – huge rooms, soaring ceilings, stained glass windows, and a labyrinth of chambers.

In 1996, club attendee Michael Alig was arrested and later convicted for the killing and dismemberment of Angel Melendez, a drug dealer based at The Limelight (read about it here). Opened and closed in the 1990s for drug trafficking, it was reincarnated in 2003 as the club Avalon.

The brownstone structure, at 47 W. 20th Street and 6th Avenue, was built in 1846 as the Church of the Holy Communion for an Episcopalian congregation. It was designed by renowned architect Richard Upjohn, cofounder and first president of the AIA (American Institute of Architects). Upjohn, a British immigrant, was most well known for his Gothic revival churches. Trinity Church is one of his best-known works.
This church building was saved in the 1960s when it became designated as a landmark. It was subsequently sold and used as a drug rehabilitation center.

It’s not the idea of a church being converted to a den of debauchery that is so disappointing. It’s the state of decay that graces the exterior. I thought the lone figure of an older woman eating her lunch on the steps of the church was an appropriate statement.

Its such a shame for an important historic structure to deteriorate this way. But then again, a rock and roll club can’t be expected to be a model for decorum…