By Hadassa Kalatizadeh
The Tiffany & Co. flagship store at 727 Fifth Avenue in Manhattan’s Midtown is making real progress in its renovations. As reported by NY Yimby, the new three-story steel-framed rooftop structure has taking shape, on top of the 72-year-old building. For the project’s design, OMA partners Shohei Shigematsu and Jake Forster were tapped, along with Peter Marino Architects for interior renovations, and Structure Tone as the general contractor. The renovation aims to redesign the building’s interior spaces.
The three-story rooftop addition, built in 1980, was removed and has been successfully replaced with a new three story addition. The renovation required a crane being brought to the building’s roof—which had only been done three times before in NYC history. A 105-ton crane was used, along with eight other trucks to lift and place a 66-ton crane onto the rooftop.
Tiffany & Co, established in 1837, is currently operating its flagship store next door, at 6 East 57th street, until the renovation is complete. The temporary store is at the four-story building built for Nike‘s Niketown store, and owned by the Trump organization.
Tiffany’s own building is 11 stories tall, with completion slated for some time in spring of 2022. The iconic corner building now has innovative wavy glass curtain wall panels with aluminum almost completely installed on the top floors, with only the northeast corner remaining bare. As per Yimby, this new rooftop will also feature a wraparound outdoor terrace that will be used as exhibition, event, and client space for the world-famous jewelry retailer. The temporary metal scaffolding is still present on the building’s base, where the original stone façade can still be seen.
The store was first opened in October 1940 as Tiffany & Co.‘s sixth flagship store, originally designed by architects Cross & Cross in a “conservative modern” style. The store, famously featured in the movie ‘Breakfast at Tiffany’s’, originally had seven stories. In 1980 it was expanded with a three-story rooftop addition, which has now been replaced through renovations begun in 2020. The original structure’s facade contains a granite base and limestone on its upper section. There were renovations also done in 2001 at the building. The building’s first floor is famous for its 24 foot tall ceilings, throughout the 8,400 square foot salesroom, which has no supporting columns.
