A Makeover on 34th St., but Not All Believe in It

Macy’s is giving itself a $400 million makeover that it says will maintain the store’s “architectural integrity,” but one preservationist, Theodore Grunewald, is not happy.

The face-lift began in the spring at Macy’s flagship store, on West 34th Street between Broadway and Seventh Avenue, the almost-square-block backdrop for the annual Thanksgiving Day parade and the 1947 film “Miracle on 34th Street.” Much of the first floor on the Broadway side is under wraps. Floor-to-ceiling partitions cover boutiques that are under construction.

A few steps away, in what Macy’s calls the “great hall” leading from Broadway toward Seventh Avenue, not-yet-finished display areas are blocked by curtains that go only so high.

It was what Mr. Grunewald, who was trained as an architect, saw above the curtains that upset him. The structural columns rising to the ceiling had been simplified. No longer did they have the Art Deco look that was so familiar in that part of the store. The marble cladding that he said had given them elegance and color was gone.

Roger W. Strong/The New York TimesMacy’s in 1976.

So were pendant chandeliers as dramatic as anything in a movie palace worthy of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers.

“It’s a tragedy to lose something that’s authentic,” said Mr. Grunewald, who walked through the store on Wednesday for the first time in several months. “All the king’s horses and all the king’s men will never make Art Deco again. Imagine trying to build the Chrysler Building now if you had to.”

Macy’s, which describes the project as the most extensive one-time renovation in the store’s history, was conscious of “maintaining the uniqueness of an iconic New York City destination,” Elina Kazan, a spokeswoman, said.

“We have painstakingly worked with our architects to keep the architectural integrity of the flagship but also take it into 21st-century modern retailing,” she said.

She said the look Mr. Grunewald prized had arrived with the last renovation of the main floor a few decades ago. “It’s not the original, that’s for sure,” she said. “It’s the 1970s.”

Macy’s says that when that part of the store opened in 1902, the columns were round and were “smooth painted plaster.” The newly renovated columns will retain the octagonal shape they subsequently acquired, though not the marble cladding.

The plans call for restoring an ornate “memorial entrance” on 34th Street and for preserving 42 of the store’s 43 wooden escalators. (The 43rd is being dismantled and cannibalized for parts to keep the others going.)

“When people think of Macy’s Herald Square,” she said, “people think of the wooden escalators, and they’re going to be there.” She added the renovation, expected to be complete in 2015, had opened up painted-over windows on the second floor, where Macy’s says it has created the largest women’s shoe department in the world.

That is fine with Mr. Grunewald, who formed an organization that won a 2012 Grassroots Preservation Award from the Historic Districts Council for pushing to have the interior of a Midtown bank designated a landmark. (The bank’s exterior had been designated in 1997.) But he said the new look of the first floor at Macy’s was “jarring.”

“I hate to say it, but what they’ve got is Apple store fever. It seems to me that every retail designer now thinks that copying the Apple store will land them the same success that Apple has had with the millennials,” Mr. Grunewald said. “But right now, I’ve got Apple fatigue, because everywhere you go, you see the same idiom of clear glass cases, glass banisters on staircases, minimal ceiling and floor detailing.”

He added: “Macy’s has something unique. Why do they want to be like everyone else?”

Mr. Grunewald said Macy’s, which has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 1978, should be approved as a landmark by the city’s Landmarks Preservation Commission. But in 2007, when the commission received a request to designate the store’s exterior for landmark eligibility, the commission’s staff decided that the additional research that would have been necessary was not a priority.

“If Lord & Taylor and Saks Fifth Avenue are landmark-worthy,” Mr. Grunewald said, “surely Macy’s is. It’s like ignoring the Statue of Liberty. It’s the soul of New York.”

On Thursday, some Macy’s shoppers, like Susanna Satten, who was on her way to pick up the dress she will wear as the maid of honor in a wedding on Saturday, said they had noticed the construction.

“I’d be for preserving the historic stuff if they could,” Ms. Satten said. “I think it’s more charming.”

CITY ROOM; A Makeover On 34th St., But Not All Believe in It

Macy's is giving itself a $400 million makeover that it says will maintain the store's "architectural integrity," but one preservationist, Theodore Grunewald, is not happy.

The face-lift began in the spring at Macy's flagship store, on West 34th Street between Broadway and Seventh Avenue, the almost-square-block backdrop for the annual Thanksgiving Day parade and the 1947 film "Miracle on 34th Street." Much of the first floor on the Broadway side is under wraps. Floor-to-ceiling partitions cover boutiques that are under construction.

A few steps away, in what Macy's calls the "great hall" leading from Broadway toward Seventh Avenue, not-yet-finished display areas are blocked by curtains that go only so high.

It was what Mr. Grunewald, who was trained as an architect, saw above the curtains that upset him. The structural columns rising to the ceiling had been simplified. No longer did they have the Art Deco look that was so familiar in that part of the store. The marble cladding that he said had given them elegance and color was gone.

So were pendant chandeliers as dramatic as anything in a movie palace worthy of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers.

"It's a tragedy to lose something that's authentic," said Mr. Grunewald, who walked through the store on Wednesday for the first time in several months. "All the king's horses and all the king's men will never make Art Deco again. Imagine trying to build the Chrysler Building now if you had to."

Macy's, which describes the project as the most extensive one-time renovation in the store's history, was conscious of "maintaining the uniqueness of an iconic New York City destination," Elina Kazan, a spokeswoman, said.

"We have painstakingly worked with our architects to keep the architectural integrity of the flagship but also take it into 21st-century modern retailing," she said.

She said the look Mr. Grunewald prized had arrived with the last renovation of the main floor a few decades ago. "It's not the original, that's for sure," she said. "It's the 1970s."

Macy's says that when that part of the store opened in 1902, the columns were round and were "smooth painted plaster." The newly renovated columns will retain the octagonal shape they subsequently acquired, though not the marble cladding.

The plans call for restoring an ornate "memorial entrance" on 34th Street and for preserving 42 of the store's 43 wooden escalators. (The 43rd is being dismantled and cannibalized for parts to keep the others going.)

"When people think of Macy's Herald Square," she said, "people think of the wooden escalators, and they're going to be there." She added the renovation, expected to be complete in 2015, had opened up painted-over windows on the second floor, where Macy's says it has created the largest women's shoe department in the world.

That is fine with Mr. Grunewald, who formed an organization that won a 2012 Grassroots Preservation Award from the Historic Districts Council for pushing to have the interior of a Midtown bank designated a landmark. (The bank's exterior had been designated in 1997.) But he said the new look of the first floor at Macy's was "jarring."

"I hate to say it, but what they've got is Apple store fever. It seems to me that every retail designer now thinks that copying the Apple store will land them the same success that Apple has had with the millennials," Mr. Grunewald said. "But right now, I've got Apple fatigue, because everywhere you go, you see the same idiom of clear glass cases, glass banisters on staircases, minimal ceiling and floor detailing."

He added: "Macy's has something unique. Why do they want to be like everyone else?"

Mr. Grunewald said Macy's, which has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 1978, should be approved as a landmark by the city's Landmarks Preservation Commission. But in 2007, when the commission received a request to designate the store's exterior for landmark eligibility, the commission's staff decided that the additional research that would have been necessary was not a priority.

"If Lord & Taylor and Saks Fifth Avenue are landmark-worthy," Mr. Grunewald said, "surely Macy's is. It's like ignoring the Statue of Liberty. It's the soul of New York."

On Thursday, some Macy's shoppers, like Susanna Satten, who was on her way to pick up the dress she will wear as the maid of honor in a wedding on Saturday, said they had noticed the construction.

"I'd be for preserving the historic stuff if they could," Ms. Satten said. "I think it's more charming."

This is a more complete version of the story than the one that appeared in print.

PHOTOS: The ground floor of Macy's on West 34th Street during its renovation, in which the columns' cladding is being removed. (PHOTOGRAPH BY HIROKO MASUIKE/THE NEW YORK TIMES); Macy's in 1976. A spokeswoman says the makeover is intended to take the flagship store ''into 21st-century modern retailing.'' (PHOTOGRAPH BY ROGER STRONG/THE NEW YORK TIMES)

Popup Shops Help London Spark Tired Neighborhoods

LONDON — Ask real estate experts what makes a property a “must buy” beyond its own desirable qualities and they rattle off a familiar litany: handy transport links, well-run schools, parks — and shops.

All these come together in the prime sites of London, like Knightsbridge with the likes of Harrods and Harvey Nichols or Chelsea with the quirky independent stores along King’s Road.

Yet many of London’s village-like neighborhoods could at least start to match these glamorous rivals if they had similar mixes of restaurants and distinctive shopping.

And they need to catch up: In May, according to the monthly market report by the real estate company Knight Frank, prices in prime London locations were at a record high, 12.1 percent higher than their previous peak in March 2008.

Consider Brondesbury in the Willesden Green area northwest of the capital, only slightly more than six miles, or about 10 kilometers, from the City of London.

There, a mansion with seven bedrooms costs £3.2 million, or $4.9 million, while a Grade ll-listed Georgian house in Mayfair with the same number of bedrooms is on the market for £30 million.

Of course that is an unfair comparison — but the difference is compounded when you consider that Mayfair has chichi Mount Street, with its branch of Christian Louboutin and Scott’s, the famous fish restaurant, while Willesden Green offers a straggle of everything-for-a-pound shops and kebab joints.

In May, the government recognized the need to restore Britain’s high streets to their original role as the hub of the community by awarding 12 towns a share of £1.2 million.

And a retailing phenomenon has been spreading in some of these towns: the popup shop.

The idea of using empty storefronts for a few months, weeks or even just days has been around for more than a decade, with everyone from luxury brands to underfinanced entrepreneurs trying the concept. Now, however, nonprofit organizations like The Architecture Foundation, based in London, are negotiating with councils and landlords for longer leases because, they argue, a flourishing high street improves the environment and makes the area more attractive to small businesses and house buyers.

One project has been started in Willesden Green: An empty textiles workshop now is home to 13 creative enterprises selling vintage clothes, exotic soaps, organic food and advice on graphic design.

Sarah Ichioka, director of The Architecture Foundation — which has been working in the area for a year, transforming 25 other popups with new window displays and more appealing interiors — says: “We hope that some will become fully fledged businesses and compete with the big shopping centers and malls nearby and that, in turn, will help the area become more sustainable and more appealing to live in.”

What effect do they have on the property market, which, according to the Web siteHome.co.uk, shows average home prices at £642,631?

The local office of the Foxtons real estate agency says that, while it is not possible to put a price on the pop up project’s effect on residential prices, the effort has helped the area.

The story in Camden Town is similar. On one hand there are the majestic John Nash mansions that line Regents Park; on the other, a shopping street that is distinctly frayed.

The area has become one of 20 Business Improvement Districts in the British capital, established by local businesspeople.

And Simon Pitkeathley of Camden Town Unlimited, which represents those business interests, says the area now has the potential to open 20 popup shops.

“We want the butchers, the bakers, the candle stick makers and we are looking for creative start-ups,” he said. “It all adds to the footfall and is a welcome addition to business and the appeal of the area.”

Helen Santer is director of operations at Waterloo Quarter, the organization that represents the Business Improvement District in London SE1, the postal code region that includes Bankside, South Bank, Southwark and parts of Bermondsey and Vauxhall.

The area is waking up to the popup concept, she says, because “It is useful to show potential for a site and it helps to stop it looking like a deprived area.”

Giles Barrie, editor of the trade magazine Property Week, echoes the sentiment. “Landlords are beginning to realize that pop-ups can be a good thing,” he said. “They add vitality to a community and stem the sense of decay that some run-down areas have.
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