For decades it’s been hidden behind billboards or wrapped in a giant faux shopping bag. Many shoppers never even notice it.
But old photos reveal a five-story building (right, in 1906), sticking out like a sore thumb in front of the world’s most iconic department store.
Although Macy’s leases ad space on it, the five-story building has never been owned by the store and is one of the most famous “holdouts” in New York real estate history.
It all started around 1900, when Macy’s, then located on West 14th Street, began picking up land in Herald Square for its huge new shopping mecca.
Macy’s had a verbal agreement to buy a plot at the corner of 34th and Broadway. But an agent acting on behalf of rival department store Siegel-Cooper scored the plot instead.
Reportedly the agent wanted Macy’s to give Siegel-Cooper its 14th Street store in exchange for the land at 34th Street.
But Macy’s wouldn’t have it. The store was built around the plot.
In 1903, Siegel-Cooper put up the five-story building there today.
[Above, how Macy’s covered up the building in 1936 and in the 1960s]
Tags: Herald Square, Herald Square in the 1930s, holdout buildings, Macy's, Macy's 14th Street, Macy's history, Nedicks Herald Square, New York department stores, New York street, R.H. Macy, real estate holdouts, Siegel Cooper
Ephemeral New York 
March 3, 2011 at 11:38 am |
I can’t believe that the building is so old, it just look like as if it has been constructed recently. I would like to visit this Macy’s building.
March 3, 2011 at 12:26 pm |
This is amazing. I have been shopping in Macy’s my whole life and never noticed this. I do remember when the ground floor store of that building was a Nedick’s and explaining to my California cousin why he had to wear shoes walking around New York, while we ate hot dogs and has orange drinks there.
March 3, 2011 at 2:52 pm |
Hi Wild,
Thanks for the story. I have many memories of Macy’s, going back to childhood.
Your “70s” photo of Macy’s is actually earlier than the 1970’s. There are “non-yellow” medallion cabs at the corner by the holdout building. According to “Taxicabs of NYC” in Wikipedia, all NYC medallion cabs had to be all yellow as of 1967. Non-yellow cabs are also a childhood memory, that’s what clued me.
Fun, as always, thanks.
March 3, 2011 at 2:59 pm |
Good eye Force Tube, thanks. I’ll fix it in the copy.
March 3, 2011 at 8:57 pm |
[…] Did you know that there’s a separate building embedded in the corner of Macy’s Herald Sq… Back in 1903, department store Siegel-Cooper built the five story structure to spite their rival, who was very publicly buying up space in Herald Square. But Macy’s spited them right back, putting up their iconic flagship around the smaller structure. Ever since, they’ve been covering it up with Macy’s ads, and most people don’t even notice it’s there. [Ephemeral New York] […]
March 3, 2011 at 9:22 pm |
Very cool. I wonder if it has a separate interior as well and what it’s used for – it looks like the ads cover all but one floor of windows.
March 3, 2011 at 9:24 pm |
I think there’s a Sunglasses Hut on the first floor. And as Alex mentioned above, it used to house a Nedick’s.
March 4, 2011 at 1:38 am |
This Alex remembers the Nedick’s store as well. There were only stand-up counters for customers to eat and drink, but it did a lot of business.
March 4, 2011 at 2:45 pm |
i remember it that way too
March 4, 2011 at 2:24 am |
Fascinating. But the question remains: How is it that Macy’s, then and now, has the right to put up the billboards and banners that pretty much obscure the building? They must have some control over it, no?
March 4, 2011 at 5:09 pm |
Reportedly they rent the space for signage.
March 4, 2011 at 10:56 am |
I wrote about this a year or so ago … here’s a little more detail:
http://daytoninmanhattan.blogspot.com/2010/03/little-building-under-big-bag-at-macys.html
March 4, 2011 at 3:31 pm |
Boy does that bring back memories, I thank the one writer who remembered the Old Nedicks, wow, were does the time go. Remember being a kid and walking through the Macy’s store, wow for got all about it.
March 4, 2011 at 5:11 pm |
Over the years it’s housed different stores, but only on the first floor.
I don’t know who owns it. Macy’s I’m sure could buy it if they want, but I guess on principle they won’t.
March 4, 2011 at 4:52 pm |
Is there anything in it now? I would imagine that as much money as Siegel-Cooper makes from Macy’s, they would make even more leasing out the interior.
March 4, 2011 at 4:58 pm |
I moved out of NY a while ago, but I used to walk past that corner a lot when I took the LIRR at Penn Station nearby. Do I remember correctly – is there a plaque or some other sort of marker on the corner building, saying that that piece of property is indeed not part of Macy’s?
March 4, 2011 at 5:10 pm |
I’m not sure, but I’ll try to walk by this weekend and look for one.
March 5, 2011 at 12:13 am |
[…] The tiny holdout building in the middle of Macy’s For decades it’s been hidden behind billboards or wrapped in a giant faux shopping bag. Many shoppers never even notice […] […]
March 5, 2011 at 2:14 pm |
Seymour Durst published a book in ’84 called “Holdouts!”, chronicling this phenomena. Unfortunately now out of print, so a used copy will cost ya.
March 5, 2011 at 2:30 pm |
We had something like that in Spokane, though granted it wasn’t as iconic as the corner of New York’s Macey’s. Our biggest hospital stands on the South Hill– Grand Street has to go around it, it’s so big. Yet if you look between two of the huge buildings in the complex, you’ll see an old-fashioned white house smack between them– fairly large, quite pretty. The locals call it “Mary’s House”.
March 10, 2011 at 1:59 am |
[…] Ephemeral New York digs up this trivia gem about a small 5-story building sitting at the corner of Macy’s Herald Square in NYC. The building, which is located at 34th Street and Broadway holds a large Macy’s shopping bag at its rooftop but is actually not owned by Macy’s. It is instead owned by a rival department store company named Siegel-Cooper (although I bet the rivalry is nothing like it probably was in the early 1900′s when the plots of land were being developed). [via] Starbucks to close 9 (maybe 10) stores in Manhattan […]
March 13, 2011 at 9:01 pm |
Part of my families’ lore is that Great-Grandma and Great-Grandpa owned either a dry goods store or hat store and sold the land to Macy’s and lived comfortably ever after. Is there a way to find out what stores were there before Macy’s and who owned them???
April 1, 2011 at 9:57 pm |
Does anyone know when the two balconies were removed? I noticed in the 1936 picture they are there, but not in the shot from the 1960s. Along with the balconies, other changes that were made including the rooftop lighting, the double-flag poles that adorned each corner of the building and the rooftop railing. I was just curious if some (or all) of these elements were removed due to safety concerns or something else.
February 7, 2012 at 7:33 pm |
We’re right across Herald Square from Macy’s and have always wondered the background behind that building. Great photos!
February 7, 2012 at 7:38 pm |
Thanks HT!
March 12, 2012 at 3:59 am |
[…] the story of a little-known but very recognizable holdout building in the middle of Macy’s. Share this:TwitterLike this:LikeBe the first to like this […]
March 12, 2012 at 4:09 am |
If Macy’s doesn’t own it, how are they able to cover it up?
March 12, 2012 at 4:12 am |
Macy’s leases ad space from the building, so they can do what they want with it–which is to cover it up.
March 13, 2012 at 12:54 am |
If you go to Google Books, type in macy’s, and choose Free Google Books, there is a wonderful book abut the history of macys, which describes the purchasing of the land on 34th street in detail. “The Romance of a Great Store”
http://books.google.com/books?id=ZKwpAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA3&dq=macys&hl=en&sa=X&ei=iJpeT9LAKcXv0gGl97ytBw&ved=0CDgQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=macys&f=false
September 13, 2012 at 10:55 am |
I have lived in New York City all my life and I, too, remember the Nedick’s there with the counters and standing up to have a drink there. I never realized, though, I should have, I think, that this was not part of Macy’s. Thanks for this great story and for all the other stories about these little buildings. Before I read the story about the building that’s covered up by Macy’s on 34fh St., I thought you were talking about the round Macy’s in Elmhurst, Queens. There was a tiny, holdout building there, too. Macy’s had to build around that one, too.
September 13, 2012 at 1:49 pm |
Thanks so much! I’ll have to check out the Elmhurst Macy’s.
September 13, 2012 at 3:30 pm |
I have a feeling the little building at the Elmhurst Macy’s is no longer there. I think I remember that it had been sold and something was there in it’s place.
September 13, 2012 at 5:02 pm |
Hi All,
Here is a link to the full story on the Elmhurst Macy’s “holdout”.
http://placesnomore.wordpress.com/2012/08/05/sendeksandmacys/
Cheers.
September 13, 2012 at 5:24 pm |
Fascinating, thanks Force Tube. What a terrific story…and a horribly ugly Macy’s, but oh well.
September 13, 2012 at 5:33 pm |
W,
I can’t fault you for thinking the Queens Boulevard Macy’s “ugly”; it’s in that unfortunate period between “new” and “classic”. It’s just dated. But when it went up, I remember being taken with its design that was then thought modern and dramatic.
I think our perceptions of buildings change over time. To cite an example, who thought anyone would want to protect Manhattan’s white brick apartment buildings? Well, they do now.
http://therealdeal.com/blog/2012/07/19/new-condos-rise-in-maligned-white-brick-buildings/
September 13, 2012 at 5:56 pm |
Point well taken, especially about the white brick buildings. I do think the Macy’s looks like a giant-size dial from an old appliance though….
November 29, 2012 at 7:07 am |
[…] the perfect time of the year to visit Macy’s: for holiday shopping, browsing Christmas displays, and to pay homage to the wonderfully creaky old […]
April 15, 2013 at 6:55 am |
[…] in the dry-goods business, and by 1902, he and his brother co-owned Abraham & Straus and Macy’s, opening the famous Herald Square store that […]
July 28, 2013 at 4:27 am |
About 100 years ago I worked at the corporate offices for Macy’s New York (alrite more like 25 years ago) and I had to help research, write & make a slide show for a presentation then MNY Present, Mr. Yalof was making to some visiting British retailers. I learned all this history at that time (thank you for the refresher!) because Macy’s had a wonderful historical archive I could use (pre-Internet, you know). Did you also know that the Macy’s building was put up in two stages and the original building went from 34th-35th on Broadway but only went about half-way down 34th? The Stearns then built the 2nd half later (I can’t remember exactly how much later) and there was ANOTHER holdout building on the corner of 35th & 7th. I believe it was a flower shop or something when I worked there. I haven’t been to the Herald Square store in years, but you could always tell where the buildings were joined because the floors don’t match up exactly, hence the 2 or 3 steps in the middle of the 1st floor and (when I worked there) the strange slope in the middle of the 7th floor.
May 31, 2014 at 2:08 am |
[…] Check out more holdout buildings here, and of course, the most famous of all the holdouts—the one in the middle of Macy’s. […]
August 7, 2014 at 1:35 pm |
[…] a year after the huge Macy’s opened, Siegel razed the corner building and replaced it with a five-story structure which he leased to the United Cigar Store Company for $40,000 per year. It wasn’t until […]
February 9, 2015 at 1:01 pm |
I am the contractor that built the Sun Glass Hut world headquarters there. I believe I did it in 1997 ish. It was a Needicks hot dog store that had been closed for years when I started the renovation.
TARA INTERIOR CONSTRUCTION DID THE JOB
February 9, 2015 at 10:45 pm |
I remember the Nedick/’s that was there. I wonder how many people rememer Nedick’s. They were known for an orange drink. Thalso sold franks.
April 7, 2015 at 7:11 am |
[…] (proclaiming Macy’s the “world’s largest store”) by lease arrangement. (Source 1 | Source […]
April 7, 2015 at 8:10 am |
[…] (proclamando la “tienda más grande del mundo” Macy) por acuerdo de arrendamiento. ( Fuente 1 | Fuente 2 […]
April 15, 2015 at 11:39 pm |
[…] 5. Dům, který zabránil vzniku největšího obchodního domu na světě […]
May 28, 2015 at 8:23 pm |
[…] corner of the block housing Macy’s department store in New York has been a holdout for more than 100 years, the shop’s owners never being able to […]
May 29, 2015 at 12:50 am |
I’m intrigued about the interior of that building above the first floor. It’s been covered up for decades by billboards, so obviously there is no actual business there. A ghostly, empty 100 year old interior perhaps? Right in the middle of NYC…
May 29, 2015 at 9:13 am |
[…] corner of the block housing Macy’s department store in New York has been a holdout for more than 100 years, the shop’s owners never being able to […]
June 2, 2015 at 4:23 am |
[…] corner of the block housing Macy’s department store in New York has been a holdout for more than 100 years, the shop’s owners never being able to […]
June 2, 2015 at 10:38 am |
[…] The corner of the block housing Macy's department store in New York has been a holdout for more than 100 years, the shop's owners never being able to buy the five-storey building there. Macy's sometimes rents advertising space on its front to hide the anomaly. […]
October 19, 2015 at 8:22 pm |
Caro says provides the most accurate additional information regarding this post. The original Cooper-Siegel site had a three story structure, which I’d be happy to send an image of from 1903 if asked. 168 W. 35th St. was the other hold out site. When Caro worked there it may have been a flower shop. It is currently a Dali Market catering to the lunch crowd.
https://www.google.com/maps/place/168+West+35th+Street+and+7th+ave.+NY+Ny/@40.7516957,-73.9902153,3a,75y,118.97h,90t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m4!1s7ymwIk0y0fA1aS78XbWQOA!2e0!7i13312!8i6656!4b1!4m2!3m1!1s0x0:0xc14a1b00b5848d43!6m1!1e1
April 7, 2016 at 5:40 pm |
did u know the mercer family went to court in the 30’s and 40’s because of a 99 year lease was up and Macy’ s refused to renew or pay rent for the property that Macy sits on.
December 2, 2016 at 12:50 pm |
[…] The corner of the block housing Macy’s department store in New York has been a holdout for more than 100 years, the shop’s owners never being able to buy the five-storey building there. Macy’s sometimes rents advertising space on its front to hide the anomaly. […]
June 5, 2017 at 6:44 am |
[…] who shopped (or at least window-shopped) emporiums like Lord & Taylor, Arnold Constable, and Macy’s along Ladies Mile were blown away by the city’s first Siegel-Cooper store, which opened in […]
June 9, 2017 at 9:16 am |
[…] (proclaiming Macy’s the “world’s largest store”) by lease arrangement. (Source 1 | Source […]
July 1, 2019 at 4:59 am |
[…] operated 11 shops across 14th Street in the Ladies Mile shopping district before decamping for Herald Square in 1902 can also claim another […]
September 17, 2019 at 12:05 am |
[…] and Neptune Avenue, we see an old corner building in the shadow of a post-millennial tower. Like the corner property on 34th Street and Broadway that refused to sell to Macy’s, it is an example of an architectural […]
October 15, 2019 at 12:42 am |
There is a Burger King in the basement that connects the the 6th ave Subway mezzanine level
March 23, 2020 at 6:30 am |
[…] was by all accounts a success. But by the early 1900s, New York’s biggest stores were following Macy’s lead and relocating to Herald […]
June 22, 2020 at 7:19 am |
[…] are you haven’t been to Macy’s lately, considering that the flagship Herald Square store has been closed since the pandemic began, and it […]
June 22, 2020 at 10:19 am |
[…] are you haven’t been to Macy’s lately, considering that the flagship Herald Square store has been closed since the pandemic began, and it […]
September 4, 2020 at 9:54 am |
But who actually payed million dollars for the corner building after Macy’s already built around it? There is information about 375 000 payed by Smith, and then somebody payed the actual million and never used the building?
April 5, 2021 at 4:19 am |
[…] But Stern’s reign as one of the most popular shops on Ladies Mile wouldn’t last—mainly because Ladies Mile didn’t last. Macy’s was the first store to relocate uptown, from 14th Street and Sixth Avenue to Herald Square, in 1903. […]
November 22, 2021 at 1:30 am |
[…] a much longer route, starting at Convent Avenue and 145th Street and making its way to the flagship Macy’s on 34th Street. Opened in 1902 after Macy’s long reign on the 14th Street end of Ladies Mile, the massive […]