Bloomingdale’s is Painting Over Its Historical French-Style Facade in Black on 60th Street in NYC

A few years ago, we highlighted a portion of the Bloomingdale’s department store uptown, on the 60th Street side, that was a remnant of an earlier store. The French-inspired design had a mansard roof with neoclassical details and the words “Bloomingdale Brothers” still visible. As we pointed out then, Bloomingale’s hasn’t always been too detailed or consistent about its own history, location wise.

Now, Untapped Cities reader Cathleen Mayrose sent us a photograph showing that Bloomingdale’s is painting over that section and the neighboring section in black, further hiding it from obvious view. She tells us, “Personally, I find this deplorable, along with with the other ridiculous changes they have made including the purple neon lighting around the upper floor windows.”

Without landmarking, these are the types of changes that can take place on historical buildings. Bloomingdale’s likely is looking to rebrand its flagship store, and going black is the current way to go. It’s still unclear whether the rest of hte facade will be painted over (like the portion on the far right), but Cathleen is on the lookout.

For another piece of hidden history at Bloomingdale’s, check out the story of the two time capsules, still sealed in the cornerstones of the store and read about the Top 10 Secrets of Bloomingdale’s.