Max Hoffman, Frank Lloyd Wright and the birth of VWs in the US

An interesting bit of news came into my Facebook feed this morning. The New York Times just covered the destruction of Max Hoffman's Park Avenue showroom. The demo of the lobby happened in early May, but the word took a while to spread. The reason why it is of interest to some is that the showroom was one of the few remaining Frank Lloyd Wright pieces in NYC still standing.

Why it is of interest to me is that is was the gateway for several foreign auto brands coming into America. VW, Porsche, Jaguar, BMW among them. It had been occupied by Mercedes until late last year (2012) but they moved out, leaving the street level vacant.

There are 2 good articles on the situation:

NEW YORK TIMES: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/23/automobiles/wrights-new-york-showroom-now-just-a-memory.html?emc=eta1&_r=1&

METROPOLIS MAGAZINE: http://www.metropolismag.com/Point-of-View/May-2013/Remembering-Frank-Lloyd-Wrights-Bijou/

Here are a few more pictures:

This is what it looked like most recently, before Mercedes left: