12 East 53rd Street, School building in Midtown East, Manhattan, US.
12 East 53rd Street is a six-story limestone building in Midtown East, Manhattan, featuring Tudor-Gothic facade elements such as peaked dormers and carved stone details. It sits between Madison Avenue and Fifth Avenue and today houses a fashion school.
The building was designed in 1871 by architect Griffith Thomas as a four-story brownstone residence for a wealthy family. In 1906, Raleigh C. Gildersleeve carried out a major renovation that added two more floors and replaced the facade with the current limestone and Gothic detailing.
The Tudor-Gothic details on the facade, such as carved stone ornaments and a peaked dormer, stand out along this stretch of 53rd Street. The contrast with the surrounding glass towers makes the building easy to spot and draws the eye of anyone passing by.
The building is easy to reach on foot from Fifth Avenue and sits within the main pedestrian flow of Midtown. As it is a private building, the best way to see it is from the sidewalk, where the facade is fully visible.
Before becoming a fashion school, the building served as the headquarters of the Automobile Club of America and as a private art gallery, among other uses. This sequence of very different purposes within a single structure is uncommon even by Manhattan standards.
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