Walking down Fifth Avenue today feels different than it did ten years ago. If you stand on the corner of 38th Street and look up at 424 5th Ave NY NY, you aren't looking at a department store anymore. You're looking at a massive, billion-dollar bet on the future of how we work. It’s the old Lord & Taylor building. For over a century, this Italian Renaissance Revival landmark was the literal gold standard of American retail. Now? It’s Amazon’s "Hank" building.
The transition was messy. It was public. Honestly, it was a bit of a tragedy for New York traditionalists who remembered the animated holiday windows and the dry, elegant air of the Birdcage restaurant on the fifth floor.
But things change. New York changes faster than anywhere else.
Why 424 5th Ave NY NY is more than just an address
You can’t talk about this building without talking about the sheer scale of the architecture. Starrett & van Vleck designed it. They were the titans of their era. Completed in 1914, the building wasn't just a place to buy gloves or hats; it was the first "modern" department store in the city to move this far uptown. It set the pace for what Fifth Avenue became.
It has these deep, limestone-and-granite roots. It feels heavy. It feels permanent. That’s probably why when WeWork bought it for $850 million back in 2019, people lost their minds. It felt like the new guard—the "move fast and break things" tech crowd—was literally swallowing the old world whole.
Then WeWork imploded.
The deal almost fell apart. It became a symbol of the "tech bubble" hubris. For a while, the building just sat there, caught in a corporate tug-of-war. Eventually, Amazon stepped in during the summer of 2020, shelling out roughly $1.15 billion to take the whole thing off WeWork’s hands.
That is a lot of money for a renovation project.
The Amazon "Hank" Era: What’s actually inside now?
Amazon doesn't call it the Lord & Taylor building. They named it "Hank." Why? It’s a nod to the building’s history with a bit of a "dad joke" twist, referencing the "hanks" of yarn or fabric from the garment district roots nearby.
Inside, the transformation is staggering. Amazon didn't just slap some desks in there. They had to gut the place while keeping the landmarked exterior intact. That’s a nightmare for architects.
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Imagine trying to fit modern HVAC systems, miles of fiber-optic cabling, and massive server rooms into a shell built for 1914 elevators and steam heat. They added two floors. They built a 4,000-square-foot rooftop terrace that has some of the best views of the Empire State Building you'll ever see, mostly because you're so close you can almost touch the Art Deco spire.
The space now holds about 2,000 employees.
It’s mostly tech teams. We’re talking AWS (Amazon Web Services), advertising, and Alexa developers. It’s a far cry from the days of tea service and "white glove" delivery.
The public-facing side of the landmark
One of the coolest things about the new 424 5th Ave NY NY is that it isn't a total fortress. Often, when big tech moves into a landmark, the public gets locked out. Amazon actually kept some of the ground floor accessible.
There is a public "Sun Room" and some retail space. It’s a weird vibe—sitting in a high-tech corporate hub that still has the ghost of a 1920s shopping palace. You can definitely feel the history in the height of the ceilings.
A messy timeline of ownership
If you’re trying to track how we got here, it helps to see the timeline. It’s not a straight line.
- 1914: Lord & Taylor opens. It’s a hit.
- 2007: The building is designated a New York City landmark. This is crucial because it prevented anyone from ever tearing it down to build a glass tower.
- 2017: Hudson’s Bay Company (the parent company) starts looking for an exit as department stores begin to die.
- 2019: WeWork buys it. The goal was to make it their global headquarters. Adam Neumann’s vision was grand, expensive, and ultimately, unsustainable.
- 2020: Amazon buys the building from WeWork.
- 2023: The "Hank" building officially opens its doors to employees after years of intense renovation.
What most people get wrong about the location
Most tourists confuse this area. They think Fifth Avenue is just the "Diamond District" or the "High Fashion" zone near Central Park.
424 5th Ave NY NY sits in a bit of a transitional zone. It’s the "Midtown South" border. You’ve got the New York Public Library a few blocks up and the Empire State Building a few blocks down. It’s more "business" than "glamour" these days.
People also assume the building is just an office. It’s really a massive piece of infrastructure. The amount of power and data flowing through that limestone block is enough to run a small city. Amazon didn't just buy a prestigious address; they bought a strategic node in their Manhattan ecosystem.
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Why the Landmark status matters
The Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) is notoriously tough. When Amazon wanted to change the windows or add the rooftop structure, they had to jump through hoops.
They had to restore the terra cotta. They had to clean the granite.
This is why the building still looks like a postcard from 1914 on the outside. If you stand across the street, you can still see the intricate carvings and the classic "L&T" flourishes if you look closely enough. It’s a weird juxtaposition: a trillion-dollar cloud computing company operating inside a shell designed before the first World War.
The economic ripple effect
When 2,000 highly paid tech workers move into a single block, the local economy shifts.
The lunch spots on 38th and 39th streets have changed. You see fewer old-school delis and more "fast-casual" bowl places. The real estate value of the surrounding blocks spiked the moment the Amazon deal was finalized.
It also solidified this part of Fifth Avenue as a tech corridor. Google is over in Chelsea and Hudson Square, but Amazon’s presence at 424 5th Ave NY NY creates a massive anchor in the heart of Midtown.
The sustainability angle (It’s actually impressive)
Old buildings are usually energy vampires. They leak heat in the winter and stay humid in the summer.
Amazon actually pushed for LEED Gold certification here. They used "green" concrete. They have a massive rainwater collection system on the roof. They even reused a lot of the original wood and materials from the demolition phase.
It’s easy to be cynical about corporate "greenwashing," but honestly, retrofitting a century-old landmark to be energy efficient is significantly harder than building a new "green" tower from scratch.
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Is it worth visiting?
Look, if you’re a tourist, you can’t just wander into the Amazon offices to see the tech labs. Security is tight.
But you should walk by.
Standing at the base of 424 5th Ave NY NY gives you a sense of New York's layers. You can see the original bronze entryways. You can imagine the thousands of people who walked through those doors in the 1940s in their Sunday best.
Then you see a 24-year-old engineer in a hoodie walk in with a badge, and you realize you're watching the city reinvent itself in real-time.
Making sense of the change
Some people hate it. They think Fifth Avenue lost its soul when the department stores started closing. Lord & Taylor was an institution. Losing it felt like losing a piece of the city's identity.
But the alternative was a vacant, rotting building.
By taking over 424 5th Ave NY NY, Amazon basically subsidized the preservation of a landmark that might have otherwise fallen into disrepair. It’s a trade-off. We lose the "Birdcage" restaurant, but we keep the architecture.
How to experience 424 5th Ave NY NY today
If you want to see the building and understand its place in the city, don't just stare at the front door.
- Start at Bryant Park. Walk down Fifth Avenue toward 38th Street. This gives you the best perspective of how the building dominates the block.
- Check the 38th Street side. This is where a lot of the modern architectural work is visible, including the loading docks that were reimagined for a tech-heavy workforce.
- Look at the Roof. From a distance, try to spot the glass addition. It’s set back far enough that it doesn't ruin the silhouette, which was a major requirement from the city.
- Visit the Ground Floor Retail. Check what’s currently occupying the public-facing storefronts. It changes, but it’s your only way to legally get inside the "shell" without an Amazon badge.
The building is a survivor. It survived the Great Depression, the rise of online shopping (ironically), and a global pandemic. It’s still here. It just has a different job now.
Instead of selling dresses, it’s selling the "Cloud."
It’s still Fifth Avenue. It’s still New York. It’s just 2026, and the rules have changed.