712 Fifth Avenue
Joseph worked on a Fifth Avenue skyscraper whose shape was changed by a public preservation fight: dozens testified over whether the older buildings underneath it should survive.
712 Fifth Avenue photographed in 2008.
Current view · 2008 · Photo: Americasroof · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Source
Why this project matters
- Project identity
- Verified
- Kelly connection
- Family source
- Masonry scope
- Strong
Rita’s list
Transcription: Office Building - 712 Fifth Avenue — 1988
Recorded by Rita Bartscherer · Bartscherer family record
KM-196
2 of two
“Office Building - 712 Fifth Avenue — 1988”
At the 1985 Rizzoli landmark hearing, 34 speakers supported designation and 17 opposed it. The later tower incorporated the protected Rizzoli/Coty fabric rather than clearing the blockfront.
The record makes the preservation conflict tangible—not an abstract 'fight,' but a public hearing with sharply divided testimony that helped determine what Joseph ultimately built around.
What Kelly did here
Family source
Strong
Most likely the five-story solid masonry base, continuous masonry/concrete backing behind the stone veneer, and CMU/service masonry. Miller Druck is separately credited for Indiana limestone, so the visible limestone should not be assigned wholesale to Kelly.
This scope is recorded as strong, not documented. It is a disciplined reading of the building and the trade practice of the period, not a contract-level record of Kelly’s work.
The construction team
- 01Owner / client
Taubman project entity
- 02Architect
Kohn Pedersen Fox; SLCE Architects
- 03GC / construction manager
Original GC/CM not yet identified
What happened to it
Still standing / landmark-integrated office tower
KPF returned three decades later to redesign the lobby and retail spaces. A 2023–24 repositioning restored and highlighted the Lalique glass, opened sightlines and created new glass-and-limestone public interiors.
Sources
2 citedOpen →
- 01kpf.com
712 fifth avenue
- 02commons.wikimedia.org
File:712FifthNYC.jpg
- Americasroof · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons · 2008-10
712 Fifth Avenue photographed in 2008.
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