Empty for years, 212 Fifth Avenue was built as a commercial building in the glory days of Madison Square at the start of the 20th century. Helpern Architects first restored, converted, and served as Architect of Record for this 1913 building, transforming it into a 24-story luxury apartment condominium. Part of the restoration was to recreate the impressive parapet, whose remaining parts had been removed and stored in a vacant floor.
We continue to be involved as Executive Architect to the condominium’s board. The current focus is the re-creation of the top five floors into one grand apartment.
212 Fifth yielded 48 apartments and two very special penthouses with their own terraces. The main entrance is now centered on West 26th Street, so the base can efficiently house retail.
The building has a memorable limestone, terra cotta, and brick façade, with oversized windows and Gothic and Romanesque details. Its odd, rhomboid-shaped steel-frame structure is as progressive as any built at that time of exuberant expansion in the city. Ironically, 212 Fifth was designed by Schwartz & Gross, a firm known for hundreds of the era’s fine uptown apartment buildings.
