Building ceased to be a prominent Times Square landmark when the Ramada Renaissance Times Square was built directly to the south, making the building practically invisible from Times Square.
The building visually marked the north end of the Times Square canyon until the construction of the hotel one block to the south, and thus has been prominent on many New York postcards for decades.
Initially built as a showroom for the Studebaker vehicles, ranging from the horsedrawn carriages such as Grand Victorias and Spider Phaetons to early automobiles.
The roof supported many gigantic billboards, including ones for Maxwell House, Chevrolet, Braniff and Sony.
The building once housed the founding office of Columbia Pictures and the National Screen Service Corporation, a major supplier of movie posters and other promotional materials.
To make up for a loss of advertisement location quality the owners substituted with advertisement location quantity, adding V-shaped signs on the corners and wrapping most of the building with a billboard.
The ground floor was home to Ripley's Believe It or Not! Odditorium ("Curioddities From 200 Countries").
demolished [destroyed]
commercial office
restaurant