What architect designed the 1940 Tiffany & Co. flagship store at 727 Fifth Avenue?

Cross & Cross designed the 1940 Tiffany & Co. flagship store at 727 Fifth Avenue in Manhattan.

The building was Tiffany’s sixth flagship and replaced the company’s 1905 store at Fifth Avenue and 37th Street. Tiffany leased the new site in 1939 and hired the New York architectural firm Cross & Cross to design the building in a conservative modern style. Construction was handled by Turner Construction, and the store opened on October 21, 1940.

Its granite-and-limestone exterior balanced modernism with the traditional monumental character expected on Fifth Avenue. A nine-foot Atlas statue holding a clock became a distinctive landmark above the entrance. The original structure had seven stories; a three-story rooftop addition was added in 1980, and the building underwent major renovation from 2020 to 2023.

A common mix-up is Stanford White, who designed Tiffany’s earlier 401 Fifth Avenue building with McKim, Mead & White. That older flagship opened in 1905, whereas Cross & Cross designed the 727 Fifth Avenue store.