Tiffany & Co.: Restoring the Brilliance of an Iconic Crown Jewel

When Tiffany & Co. re-opened its flagship Fifth Avenue doors following a nearly four-year renovation in April, it revealed the first complete transformation of the celebrated Manhattan store since it first opened at the corner of 57th Street in 1940.

The historic limestone building’s façade, with its familiar Atlas statue and a clock above the revolving doors, is refurbished but relatively unchanged. However, once you step inside the legendary retail store, nearly everything else — the white marble interiors, the sculptural spiral staircase, ­the modern ­video walls that share iconic New York scenery, and the eye-catching 22-foot diamond-shaped skylight illuminating the main floor — is new and reimagined.

Now referred to as “The Landmark,” the iconic flagship store is also one of the largest retail shops in Manhattan, expanded to a total of 100,000 square feet.

To create an unforgettable experience that is as brilliant and beautiful as the extraordinary diamonds for which Tiffany & Co. is known required careful planning, collaboration, innovation and focus on the key details outside the view of the store’s shoppers and admirers.

WSP was part of the team responsible for adding luster to the shop, serving as the structural engineer; mechanical, electrical and plumbing (MEP) engineer; and provided fire protection, telecom and security services throughout the process.

WSP was involved with the project from the beginning, initially to perform studies and determine what could – and should – be done to rejuvenate the century-old building from an MEP perspective.

“The project eventually developed into a full gut renovation, so we also ended up bringing in our structural group, our planning group and our façades group, too,” said Philip Brychta, project director for WSP. “Our Geotech group also joined the project to provide boring samples for new elevator pits, and also to allow Tiffany’s and our structural group to collaborate and study potential sub-basement options.”

Interior renovations included a complete redesign of Tiffany’s retail spaces, a new three-story glass event space on the roof, elevator refurbishments and custom art and display cases. Even Tiffany’s Blue Box Café received a needed refresh and upgrade, moving from a fourth-floor kitchenette up to a sixth-floor full-service restaurant with a dining room and a kitchen that not only serves breakfast at Tiffany’s, but afternoon tea and other elegant meal options.

One of the biggest project challenges was to ensure that the existing structure could support the additional loads and reframing work while meeting strict New York City building codes.

“The building sits on transfer trusses on the third floor and those trusses are one-story deep. So, anything we did at the top of the building would be on those trusses,” said Mohammed Haque, the structural project manager for WSP, who oversaw all renovation designs. “We ended up verifying them several times to ensure they were still working in terms of strength and deflection. It is an old building and every building has a specific capacity. So if you keep adding load, eventually the numbers won’t work.”

To improve the building’s exterior aesthetics, Tiffany’s also wanted to remove the existing floors above the building’s eighth floor and add new ninth and 10th floors to create some special upper volume event spaces. Initially, the existing eighth floor was going to remain. But it was thick and heavy, and with everything else the client wanted to put in that space, it would overload the trusses.

“By removing that floor and installing a new one, we removed a lot of the excess load and were able to achieve the balance needed,” Haque said.

Long cantilever beams were also installed in both the north-south and east-west directions to accommodate column-free space in the upper part of the building. Temporary bracings were also designed to protect the building against lateral loads during the construction of the new three-story plus roof to achieve the column-free addition.

Today, a three-story glass structure known as “The Jewelry Box” occupies that space and will host special events and exhibitions. It includes wrap-around terraces and panoramic views of New York City. At night, it even lights up Tiffany Blue.

During the contract period, Tiffany & Co. was acquired in 2020 by LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton SE. While the ownership change was a challenge schedule-wise, Brychta said it actually worked out well because the new owner brought in fresh ideas for the project, as well as a new team that included Peter Marino Architects (PMA), the new owner’s go-to architect, who has worked previously with WSP.

“When PMA came on board, we had to completely redo our interior drawings, which had been finalized before the acquisition,” Brychta said. “It wasn’t any more difficult for us, just a completely different design and, actually, they probably made the process smoother.”

“Peter Marino did bring some spectacular changes to the interior designs, which required bolstering structure but not a complete change,” Haque added. “Also, in my view, they made the overall interior designs uniquely better.”

This project involved a lot of unconventional MEP work. Not only did the client insist that the building not experience much temperature fluctuation from 72 degrees, they also wanted the ceiling vents to be hidden from view within the store.

“One of the unique challenges of projects like this one, is you just want to see the nice finish and the stone, the beauty of the space — like the gold leaf that was applied into the grains of the new wood flooring at Tiffany’s,” Brychta said. “We worked closely with the architect to achieve this. So, if there would be a reveal in the ceiling, for example, we’d stick a diffuser there and you’d never see it because it was literally part of the reveal.”

This preference applied to all the needed MEP and fire protection systems in the building. Tiffany’s wanted them to be safe, code compliant and unnoticeable to ensure that the beauty of the retail space — from every angle — would be the customer’s only focus.

Anything that needed an access door was pulled into the back of house sections of the building, where the internal infrastructure could be easily accessed but hidden from the public eye.

“The main drawback was that it created a cluster of stuff that was on top of each other trying to get to where it needed to go,” Brychta said. “It was really a challenge and that’s where I think the story was for us, as far as difficulties. It’s also where our team stepped up and did a great job.”

A keen focus on the customer experience was a top priority for the client throughout the project. As a staircase- and elevator-only building, that concern extended to potential crowding at the elevators, since new elaborate displays would be located near the waiting areas.

WSP’s urban planning team adapted traffic study patterns to depict crowd movement and provide recommendations to avoid elevator bottlenecks. Models were run using the existing elevator placement and the new elevator waiting area, which incorporated a vestibule for customer queuing. The results supported the new design, which provided people with a more comfortable and efficient place to wait for the elevator while avoiding issues with the displays.

Just as The Landmark was being re-imagined, so too were solutions to Tiffany’s needs. While vertical lift modules (VLMs) are commonly used in warehouse storage applications, Haque said that using one at Tiffany’s “would provide the client with hassle free transport of merchandise between floors, which is uncommon for high-end retail in New York City.”

WSP worked closely with the client, the architect and supplier to install a new vertical storage room — an automated system that brings purchases to each floor instead of sending staff to a storage facility to retrieve them. Because it was an absolute first for a 100-year-old building, it required close coordination with the VLM vendor and the New York Department of Buildings. The solution required that new shafts be cut into several floors. Listed as a hoist way and responsible for delicate and expensive products, the new shafts also required special fire and security systems.

Beyond the work put into the project to enhance the customer experience and align with the Tiffany’s brand, the project was also built to operate sustainably and is on track to achieve Platinum certification from the WELL Building Institute and Leadership in Environmental and Energy Design (LEED) Gold certification from the U.S. Green Building Council.

And the store is on its way to being recognized as one of the best in its class, recently named “Best Project” in the Renovation-Restoration category in Engineering News Record-New York’s 2023 Regional Projects Awards.

In addition to the legendary 128.54-carat Tiffany Diamond, the exquisite collection of curated artworks and the replica of Audrey Hepburn’s black Givenchy dress from Breakfast at Tiffany’s, the meticulous restoration of The Landmark is reflecting the style and elegance that has been long associated with Tiffany & Co.

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