The best thing I ever did - Ernest Flagg's 5th Avenue landmark

Ernest Flagg designed 597 Fifth Avenue to be his best work. Completed in 1913, the ten-story Beaux-Arts structure was built for the Scribner's Bookstore to replace a previous bookstore at 155 Fifth Avenue. The structure was erected by steel contractor George A. Just Co. and masonry contractor John T. Brady & Co, with additional materials from painter William F. Eastberg & Co, wiring contractor Peet & Powers, and plastering contractor H. W. Miller.

Look closely at the facade. You will find four medallions featuring busts of figures in printing history: Benjamin Franklin, William Caxton, Johann Gutenberg, and Aldus Manutius. The lower two floors feature a black and gold glass-and-iron storefront, while the upper stories transition into five limestone bays. The third story features five rectangular casement windows and brackets shaped like lions' heads at the tops of the spaces between windows.

Scribner's owned the building until 1984, and the bookstore in the lowest two stories closed in 1989. Ownership passed to the Cohen family, who sold it to the Benetton Group, before A&A Investment Co. bought the property in 2006 and sold it to Thor Equities in 2011. The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission designated the building as an official landmark in 1982 and designated the ground-floor interior as a landmark in 1989.

Sources: Wikipedia, OpenStreetMap, Wikidata, Wikimedia Commons