page_title: 608 Fifth Avenue
section_title: Site
hierarchical_section_title: 608 Fifth Avenue / History / Site
caption_attribution_description: English: The mansion of Ogden Goelet at 608 Fifth Avenue. It was designed by architect E. H. Kendall and construction began in 1882 and was completed by 1884. The interiors were decorated by Louis Comfort Tiffany’s interior design firm, Associated Artists.
context_page_description: 608 Fifth Avenue, also known as the Goelet Building or Swiss Center Building, is an Art Deco style office building at Fifth Avenue and West 49th Street in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City, adjacent to Rockefeller Center. It was designed by Victor L. S. Hafner, with E. H. Faile as structural engineer.
  608 Fifth Avenue was built in 1930–1932 for Robert Walton Goelet, a member of the wealthy Goelet family, on the site of Ogden Goelet's old mansion. The structure was built while the construction of Rockefeller Center was ongoing, and its design was meant to complement that of the other buildings in Rockefeller Center. The structure, built in the Art Deco style, consists of a two-story base and an eight-story upper section, with a facade of green and white marble. The interior was elaborately designed in the Art Deco style. Both the first-story interior and the exterior were designated by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission as official city landmarks in 1992.
context_section_description: Fifth Avenue between 42nd Street and Central Park South (59th Street) was relatively undeveloped through the late 19th century. In the latter half of that century, mansions and other residences were constructed along the avenue. Among these were two country mansions that Edward H. Kendall designed for brothers Robert and Ogden Goelet, within one block of each other. The brothers were part of the Goelet family, a wealthy Dutch family that had founded the Chemical Bank.  While Robert's estate was located at 589 Fifth Avenue, near present-day 48th Street, Ogden's estate was located at 608 Fifth Avenue one block north. When Ogden died in 1897, his widow inherited his property, while his brother Robert became the trustee of the property. Later, Robert's son Robert Walton Goelet became the trustee.
  By the beginning of the 20th century, the mansions had given way to office and commercial buildings. In 1920, Robert Walton commissioned the construction of an art gallery at 606 Fifth Avenue, directly south of Ogden's estate; the gallery was then occupied by Henry Reinhardt & Son. Ogden's widow continued to live in the 608 Fifth Avenue mansion until 1926, and retained ownership of the structure through her death in February 1929. By then, the construction of Rockefeller Center was ongoing in the area immediately surrounding the Goelet lots. Rockefeller Center Inc. allowed Robert Walton Goelet to keep the lots at 2–6 West 49th Street because the company considered his "interest and concern" to be a "large concern". However, Goelet could not yet develop the western part of his site due to an easement that a neighbor held on the land. Even so, Goelet started selling the objects in the house in December 1929, hosting four such sales. The house and adjacent art gallery were demolished in March 1930.
caption: Ogden Goelet's mansion at 608 Fifth Avenue, designed by E.H. Kendall
exif: {"Image Software": "Google", "Image ExifOffset": "46", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0220", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "618", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "696"}