5. Park Avenue Auto Showroom

What was left of Frank LLoyd Wright’s auto showroom

In April of 2013, Frank Lloyd Wright’s auto showroom on 430 Park Avenue disappeared to be replaced by a TD Bank. The Hoffman Auto Showroom was home to the latest and greatest imported cars for nearly sixty years, but even more importantly, was one of the three remaining Wright design commissions in New York City (the other two being the Guggenheim Museum and Cass House on Staten Island).

The Park Avenue auto showroom was built in 1954 for luxury car importer Max Hoffman, a reoccurring client of Wright’s. It contained a spiraling ramp for the display of cars, and a revolving turntable as well. These two design components were preserved when the showroom was renovated in 1982 and 2002.

In June 2012, The Frank Lloyd Wright Building Conservancy learned that the current lease by a Mercedes Benz dealer in the show room would expire in December that year, and made efforts to attract another car company to the space. But soon after, the building owners of 430 Park Avenue had contacted the Department of Buildings for a demolition permit on March 28, which was approved later that day.

See Vintage Photos of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Park Avenue Auto Showroom Demolished Quietly in NYC.