| 647 Fifth Avenue | |
|---|---|
 | |
 | |
| Former names | George W. Vanderbilt Residence |
| General information | |
| Architectural style | Neoclassical |
| Location | Manhattan, New York |
| Coordinates | 40°45′34″N 73°58′34″W / 40.75941°N 73.97616°W |
| Current tenants | Versace |
| Opened | 1905 |
| Renovated | 1938 1995–1996 |
| Client | George W. Vanderbilt |
| Technical details | |
| Floor count | 6 |
| Design and construction | |
| Architect(s) | Hunt & Hunt |
| Renovating team | |
| Architect(s) | Francisque Verpilleux (1938) Laboratio Associati (1995–1996) |
| Designated | March 22, 1977[1] |
| Reference no. | 0954[1] |
| Designated entity | 647 Fifth Avenue |
| Designated | September 8, 1983[2] |
| Reference no. | 83001733[2] |
| Designated entity | Houses at 647, 651–53 Fifth Avenue and 4 East 52nd Street |
647 Fifth Avenue, originally known as the George W. Vanderbilt Residence, is a commercial building in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. It is along the east side of Fifth Avenue between 51st Street and 52nd Street. The building was designed by Hunt & Hunt as one of the "Marble Twins", a pair of houses at 645 and 647 Fifth Avenue. The houses were constructed between 1902 and 1905 as Vanderbilt family residences. Number 645 was occupied by William B. Osgood Field, while number 647 was owned by George W. Vanderbilt and rented to Robert Wilson Goelet; both were part of the Vanderbilt family by marriage.
The house is a six-story stone building in the French Renaissance Revival style. The first floor has arched openings topped by a balustrade, while the second and third stories contain fluted pilasters supporting an entablature. The fourth and fifth floors were added in the late 1930s in an imitation of the original design, and a balustrade runs above the fifth story. The adjoining townhouse at 645 Fifth Avenue, demolished in 1944, had been built in a similar style. The entire building is taken up by a store for fashion company Versace, which also built a sixth-story fitting room.
The southeast corner of Fifth Avenue and 52nd Street was planned as a hotel in the early 1900s after the Roman Catholic Asylum vacated the site. After the Vanderbilts blocked the development of the hotel, the southern portion of the site was developed as the Marble Twins, while the northern portion became the Morton F. Plant House (now the Cartier Building). Number 647 was altered for commercial use after 1916 and contained an art gallery and airline ticket agent, among other tenants. Number 645 was largely residential until it was torn down. The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission designated 647 Fifth Avenue as a city landmark in 1977, and it was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1983 along with the Cartier Building. In the late 1990s, Versace remodeled 647 Fifth Avenue.