Interesting building in Manhattan (VIII)

The Morton F. Plant House is located on Fifth Avenue, at the crossroads with E 52nd Street. This elegant, six-story Italian Renaissance-style building was designed for Morton F. Plan, a banker and yachtsman, and owner of two baseball teams. The E 52nd Street façade is dominated by an ornately carved balcony supported by heavy console brackets at the second floor; four fluted Doric pilasters rise two stories above the balcony and support the low-pitched pediment. The fifth-floor attic windows are set in a profusely decorated frieze. In  1917, Cartier acquired the building in an extraordinary manner: Mrs. Plant swapped the house for a necklace of perfectly matched, giant Oriental pearls that had been the pride of Pierre Cartier’s collection. The jewelers have been located here ever since.