d, for the passer-by will look in
vain for any lettering indicating the ownership. Instead, there is a
bronze figure of Atlas, bearing a huge clock on his shoulders, adorning
the facade of the edifice. The clock is the old Tiffany clock. Of
American make, dating from 1850, it was for many years in front of the
original Tiffany Building at 550 Broadway, near Prince Street. Then, in
Union Square, it presided over the fortunes of the house, again to be
removed to serve as guardian of the destinies of the present structure,
which is of marble, adapted from the Palazzo Grimani of Venice, of which
Ruskin once wrote: "There is not an erring line, not a mistaken
proportion throughout its noble front." On the corresponding corner
above Tiffany's is Bonwit, Teller and Company, and directly facing the
latter on the west side of the Avenue is Franklin Simon and Company.
Conspicuous on the next block are Lord and Taylor's, and Vantine's, the
former Italian Renaissance, with vestibules finished in Bitticino marble
and Travertine stone, ceilings of Guastavino tile, and aisles bordered
with black Egyptian marble. Today this establishment represents the last
cry in construction and administration. Adjoining it to the north is
Vantine's, its dimly lighted and incense-scented aisles running between
counters covered with rare and costly curios from the Orient.

Northward to the Plaza commerce has moved with giant stride. The march
might be studied and pictured block by block, corner by corner, and page
after page blackened with detail and description. Any one of a dozen or
a dozen dozen shops of the Avenue might be made the subject of a fat
volume. For the present purpose it is enough to mention a few of them by
name, and in the order of march. At the south-east corner of Fortieth
Street, on land that was formerly occupied by the residence of Frederick
W. Vanderbilt, is the department store of Arnold, Constable and Company.
It is the new home of a house that dates from 1827. To the west of the
Avenue, on the north side of Forty-second Street, is Stern's. Other
names that have a commercial significance, that are conspicuous in the
stretch from the Public Library to the Plaza are W. and J. Sloane, the
well-known rug house, on the east side of the Avenue, between
Forty-sixth and Forty-seventh Streets; Davis, Collamore and Company
(china and glass), Fifth Avenue and Forty-eighth Street; Duveen Brothers
(antiques), 720 Fifth Avenue; Fleischman a