The four-story building on the corner of 84th Street and Broadway looks distinctly modern. The Broadway Fashion Building, located at 2315 Broadway, is constructed almost entirely of glass and metal, the style of much of the city’s latest architecture. Looks can be deceiving, however. A trained eye might notice the white terracotta and the wavy design of the roofline, which, along with the overall design of the building, indicate its original, Art Deco roots. For nearly 90 years, the Broadway Fashion Building has managed to look modern, maintaining a timelessness that is rarely seen in architecture.
The Broadway Fashion Building first opened its doors in 1931 after careful planning by architecture firm Sugarman and Berger. The firm, led by M. Henry Sugarman and A. G. Berger, had gained prominence in the city after building the massive New Yorker Hotel in an Art Deco style.
While the New Yorker Hotel was being built in Midtown, Sugarman and Berger were approached by Abraham Gevitz (also spelled Gewirtz), owner of the Broadway and Eighty-Fourth Street Corporation. Gevitz wanted to capitalize on the booming Upper West Side economy and utilize the prime retail space that comes with a corner building on Broadway. Although the project paled in comparison to the New Yorker Hotel, Sugarman and Berger saw a chance to separate themselves from traditional Upper West Side architecture. In lieu of stone blocks or ornate, Parisian flair, the architects made the then uncommon decision to build with glass, white stainless metal, and terracotta.
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By 1941, the corner real estate was home to Whelan’s Pharmacy, a gift shop, and various fashion retailers above street level. Also occupying the building was a shoe store, but not Harry’s Shoes for Kids, a current tenant of the Broadway Fashion Building. Incidentally, Harry’s Shoes first opened in New York City in 1931, the same year that the Broadway Fashion Building was completed.
Along with Harry’s Shoes for Kids, the Broadway Fashion Building is now home to 5 Napkin Burger, Maison Pickle, and the Basics Plus hardware store on its ground floor. The fur coats and lace gowns have been replaced by a branch of Weill Cornell Medicine that occupies the building’s upper floors.
As if anticipating future trends, Sugarman and Berger enabled the Broadway Fashion Building to be right at home among the glass towers that have spread across the city. Despite its modest four stories of height, the curved corner windows, elaborate lighting, and Art Deco style ensure the building is still a formidable presence on the Upper West Side.
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In the 1950s the Indian Walk children’s shoe store was located in this building. I remember it really well. It was a deep, narrow space where I got all my shoes, from toddler, through big girl, right up to my very first pair of little heels. Then it closed, but my parents remained customers. They had another store at 75th and Madison where I git shoes all the way through high school. By the beginning of college I moved on. The company went out of business in the late 60s- early 70s. The shoes were really great. Very careful attention was paid by the salesmen and women to fitting a child’s growing feet and I never had any issues with fit, never a blister. I wish I could say the same about the shoes I’ve gotten since! Thanks for the memory.
I seem to recall that the stock brokerage firm of Hayden Stone had an office on the second floor in the 1950s-60s.
Oliver Stone was the son of one of the owners.
The architectural firm of Sugarman and Berger built a number of classic apartment buildings on the West Side in the 1920s and 20s, such as the Stanton at 250 West 94th Street.