« EPA = Eternally Pushi… | Home | July 12, 2013 Collect… »

Wright's NYC Dealership Torn Down.

23 06 13 - 10:09

It almost went unnoticed, that a NYC architectural and automotive landmark was reduced to a mere memory a month ago. The automobile showroom @ 430 Park Ave, near 56th St, was the 1st of only 3 commissions that Frank Lloyd Wright's ever did in the City.

Last December, Mercedes-Benz vacated the showroom, after selling vehicles there for over 50 years. This showroom was originally Max Hoffman's HQ for selling Jaguar, Porsche, MB, & other European vehicles. With its unique spiral floor design, this luxury automobile retail space was also a precursor to the Guggenheim Museum's hallmark design.

Knowing that various NYC building & preservation committees never, ever talk to each other, the building's owners (Midwood Investment and Management and Oestreicher Properties) slyly obtained a demo permit as the Preservation committee was discussing adding Wright's 1st NYC installation to its list of historical sites. The historic display space was unceremoniously dismantled & hauled off to the dump in April.

The wiki history of this historic showroom reads as such:
The Hoffman Auto Showroom is a New York City automobile dealership office designed in 1954 by the celebrated U.S. architect Frank Lloyd Wright. The 3,600-square-foot (330 m2) space, which is located on the ground floor of 430 Park Avenue, an office tower at Park Avenue between East 55th and 56th Streets, was designed in glass and steel with a circular and sloping ramp for the automobile display; due to its limited floor space, it can only accommodate up to five automobiles at a time. Wright was commissioned to design the showroom by Max Hoffman, an importer of European luxury automobiles. When the building was commissioned its owner, Max Hoffmann, the son of a Vienna Rolls-Royce dealer, had intended to use it for his Jaguar dealership, but by the time it was completed he had moved on to Mercedes Benz and a large model of a leaping Jaguar had to be sent back to Coventry, the English manufacturer's home base. Since 1957, the space has been the home of Mercedes-Benz Manhattan.

For more info:
NY Times - Automobiles
Metropolis Magazine