Lower floors of 70 Fifth Avenue. This striking 12-story Beaux Arts–style office building was constructed in 1912 for publisher George Plimpton. It housed an extraordinary array of civil rights and social justice organizations, philanthropic groups, publishers, and non-governmental organizations. This includes the headquarters of the nation’s oldest and largest civil rights organization, the NAACP; the publishers of the first magazine for an African-American audience, The Crisis, and for African-American children, The Brownies Book; and what would become the American Civil Liberties Union, among many other entities. The building was designated as a New York City Landmark in 2021.

For more information on the history of these and other buildings South of Union Square, click here.

See all Architecture of South of Union Square photos here.

Photo by Dylan Chandler
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