Apple has turned a 1920s bank into its latest retail temple in New York. The tech giant has restored the Beaux Arts building – originally constructed for the US Mortgage and Trust Company – and will open its new store tomorrow.
Bohlin Cywinski Jackson, Apple’s go-to architecture firm for its stores, has reintroduced many of the 12,600 sq ft bank’s original features. The practice restored the bank’s marble entrance, stairs and floors, and reproduced six original chandeliers using historic photographs.
Clues to the building’s past as a bank remain: ‘United States Mortgage and Trust Company’ is still etched on the façade while the original bank vault downstairs is now the store’s VIP showroom. There’s a nod to the local area too, with photographs of the neighbourhood (taken on an iPhone, of course) lining the ground-floor walls.
The store at 940 Madison Avenue is the latest in a long line of Apple stores housed in historic buildings. We’ve rounded up a few of our favourites:
Opéra, Paris: The converted bank faces the famed Palais Garnier opera house in the French capital.
Grand Central, New York: One of the world’s most recognisable stations, Grand Central Terminal in New York houses an Apple store in its main concourse.
Regent Street, London
Kurfürstendamm, Berlin
Leidseplein, Amsterdam
Covent Garden, London: Apple moved into this restored Grade II-listed building in 2010. It was designed by William Cubitt and constructed in the 19th century
