Stewart & Co. was one of the most modern department stores in New York in the second decade of 20th century, which was famous for it merchandising. At least two buildings in the city have the name of this company. The first Stewart & Company Building is an eight-story commercial loft building designed by Warren & Wetmore, located at the southwest corner of Fifth Avenue and 37th Street. With its 'Chicago windows" and blue and white decorative ornamentation of facade it is considered as example of early 20 th century Fifth Avenue commercial loft architecture. But by the late 1920’s Manhattan’s new fashionable shopping district centered around 57th Street. In 1928 Stewart and Company decided to move their store up 5th Avenue from their 37th Street location. The northeast corner of 5th Avenue and 56th Street seemed to be a perfect site for the new store. Stewart and Company’s new home occupied the site of five private townhouses constructed by William Waldorf Astor between 1889 and 1898. The building rose to twelve stories in unbroken simplicity. The only ornamentation on the façade were the elaborate entrance and the two friezes of dancing women. At the time Stewart and Company’s opening these details drew the most criticism. Stewart and Company broke away from the traditional department store layout. Instead of aisle after aisle of display cases the new store comprised many shops. These “shops” of course were not individually owned as in a present day mall. They were rooms or alcoves devoted to specific merchandise. The design of the shops and floors fell to several different interior design firms. Again The New York Times article by Storey gives the best description of the interior of Stewart and Company – “As one enters the first impression is of warmth of color. Absent are the cool effects so often disclosed in the modern mode. One quickly discovers, too, that the architects who were responsible for each floor provided for the comfort of patrons as well as for convenient display of merchandise. On the ground floor, designed by J. Franklin Whitman, Jr. of Whitman & Goodman, spaciousness makes possible a variety of vistas that is distinctly alien to the old type of store arrangement. Some of the side sections of the ground floor are veritable small specialty shops themselves. Where perfumes are sold, for example, a semi-circular alcove is paneled in dark brown wood. Slender black columns are capped with a band of silver. This atmosphere of intimacy is carried out still further on the second and third floors, also designed by Mr. Whitman. On the second floor, entering the section in which women’s shoes are displayed, one is not confronted with the usual shelves stacked with boxes. Paneled walls of satinwood trimmed with metal form the background. Tall pilasters reach from the floor to the high ceiling. There are handsome metal grills. Informally placed chairs and settees in the modern style further the suggestion of a smart metropolitan club.” The individual shop concept of Stewart’s separated it from every other store in the city. Stewart and Company was the very epitome of modern. It opened with a gala luncheon attended by notables in art and industry. The list of guests included even Eleanor Roosevelt. Unfortunately, the timing could not have been worse, thirteen days after the luncheon the stock market crashed. Stewart’s, a small company had become over extended and with the onset of the depression never attained the customers it needed to survive. By the spring of 1930 Stewart and Company filed for bankruptcy and went out of business.