B. Altman and Company

Ghost Corp Apparel — resurrecting iconic corporate ghosts.

Benjamin Altman founded B. Altman & Co. in 1865 as a dry-goods business at 39 Third Avenue in New York City. In the 1870s it moved to Sixth Avenue near 18th Street, where its elaborate “Palace of Trade” helped turn shopping for fabric, clothing, and finery into a full-scale civic occasion.

The company opened its celebrated flagship at Fifth Avenue and 34th Street in 1906. Designed in stages by Trowbridge & Livingston, the Italian Renaissance-style store occupied a full block and helped make upper Fifth Avenue a department-store boulevard. No subtle little shop window here—this was retail with limestone, chandeliers, and serious posture.

After Benjamin Altman’s 1913 death, the business continued under longtime executives including Michael Friedsam and the Burke family. It expanded beyond Manhattan with suburban stores in places such as White Plains, Manhasset, Short Hills, St. Davids, and Paramus. In 1987, Australian property and retail company L.J. Hooker acquired control of the chain.

L.J. Hooker entered bankruptcy proceedings in August 1989, and B. Altman was liquidated. The Fifth Avenue flagship closed on December 31, 1989; remaining operations were shut by January 29, 1990. The grand old emporium’s building survived, because even corporate ghosts occasionally leave excellent real estate behind.

Our B. Altman and Company collection celebrates a 125-year New York retail institution: polished floors, carriage-trade confidence, glamorous window displays, and the exquisite stubbornness of selling silk as though civilization depended on it.