A peek inside NYC's most historic offices

Vicki Salemi
NY Post
[ source ]

Despite sleek, shiny amenities, your modern office digs just might have a quirky past that transcends time. For some, that means a legendary novelist once walked the halls; for others, it means a cherished piece of furniture is symbolic of an owner's humble beginnings. Here, three of the city's hidden gems, and the stories behind them.

The ghosts of novelists past

Beyond its bright Sephora storefront, a storied past exists within the hallowed halls of the Charles Scribner's Sons building at 597 Fifth Ave. in Midtown East. The publishing house's old headquarters were built in 1913 in a Beaux Arts style, with a limestone and ornate-iron front below a detailed facade featuring four pillars and medallion busts of four printers, including Benjamin Franklin. Even within Sephora itself - initially a Scribner bookstore - the winding staircase remains intact, complete with gold-trimmed iron railings.

And the office floors above are where editor Maxwell Perkins worked with such great American novelists as Ernest Hemingway, Thomas Wolfe and F. Scott Fitzgerald. One hundred years and several tenants later, Icreon Tech, an IT/mobile and Web development firm, moved in about a year ago and named their conference rooms The Great Gatsby and The Sun Also Rises in a nod to the former publishing pad's past. CEO and founder Himanshu Sareen says that when his team encounters a strategy roadblock, a "eureka moment" eventually follows. "We like to think Hemingway, Fitzgerald and Wolfe are helping us shake off our writer's block," he says.

Washington, Lincoln and Nixon, oh my!

If 44 Wall St. - with its thick red carpet, wooden handiwork and ceilings adorned by chandeliers - looks familiar to you, that might be because you've seen it in movies such as Woody Allen's "Alice."

D.H. Blair Investment Banking Corp. has called the 88-year-old building home since 1979, and in the company's stately surroundings one will find everything from handwritten notes by Abraham Lincoln to a Richard Nixon pardon. It's all part of chairman and president Morty Davis' personal collection, which he shares with others.

The museum-like aura extends into the workday. "Feeling inspired by all the presidents and famous people makes you aspire for bigger things for yourself," says Davis.

Eli Verschleiser, chairman of the commercial real estate company Multi Capital, says the relics play a pivotal role for his group. "Leading Wall Street bankers and business individuals have worked in these offices," he says. "Just knowing that fact puts a spring in everyone's step."

One door closes, another one opens

When entrepreneur Ling Chan of Ling Skincare & Spa emigrated from Hong Kong in the mid-1970s to pursue her American dream of opening her own beauty oasis, she never imagined a carved door would symbolize her quest. While Icreon Tech and Multi Capital's locations are entrenched in American lore, Chan grasped her own history and transported it whenever her spa moved.

When she opened her first spa in 1984, Chan imported furniture from her homeland and "fell in love with this dark, wooden, hand-carved door." During her last day of shopping, she spotted the green door - featuring carved birds, which symbolized luck - in a market.

After waiting four months, it finally made its entrance into her spa at the Crown Building in Midtown. Two years later, Chan moved to a new location in Barneys New York - and, as a symbol of moving on to bigger things, she took along the door to represent good luck.

It finally found a home at her flagship in Union Square. "It's the door to the first treatment room and still gives me great pride that I have been able to survive New York City for 40 years," she says.

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About Multi Capital LLC

Multi Capital, Inc. (www.Multi-Capital.com) is a nationwide finance company specializing in the full spectrum of real estate financing. Multi Capital is known for its expertise in arranging Senior Debt, Mezzanine, and Equity for Development Deals. With its financing experts originating from the real estate development arena, Multi has the expertise needed to syndicate these transactions.