Fire tears through newly refurbished Tiffany building on Manhattan’s Fifth Avenue 

A fire torched through parts of the newly-refurbished Tiffany & Co. building on Manhattan’s iconic Fifth Avenue on Thursday morning. 

Photos from the store, which is directly adjacent to Trump Tower, show crews of FDNY firefighters tackling the blaze which began as an underground street fire, according to a spokesman for the fire department. 

The source is believed to be an electrical vault.  

Employees were seen being taken to the hospital in ambulances. The fire occurred at around 9.38am – just as staff were preparing to open the store to customers.  

The fire started beneath the store with an electrical vault that sent smoke billowing up out of the ground floor, where the store’s main showroom is 

Con Edison employees and city workers inspect the electrical vault believed to have started the fire 

Plumes of smoke pouring out of the Tiffany & Co. Landmark store on Fifth Avenue on Thursday

Smoke was seen billowing out of a ground floor window from The Landmark store at 727 Fifth Avenue at around 10am on Thursday

Fire fighters tackle the blaze at the store on Fifth Avenue and 57th Street 

The smoke billowed from the ground beneath the iconic showroom 

Store floor staff and chefs from the sixth floor Blue Box Café were among those on the street watching the smoke billowing through windows. 

The building was recently reopened following a lengthy and expensive refurbishment. Stars like Katy Perry, Hailey Bieber and Blake Lively attended its grand reopening in April. 

The store is on a highly-prized corner of Manhattan shopping real estate – it shares the block with Trump Tower.  

LVMH, the European luxury brand power house, bought Tiffany in 2021 for $16billion. 

The renovations were estimated by some experts to have cost $500million. 

Bernard Arnault, LVMH’s chairman and owner, would not confirm the figure earlier this year when interviewed about the opening. 

He described renovating the entire building – first opened in 1940 – to make each floor different. 

The store underwent a $500million renovation and reopened earlier this year to great fanfare

Hailey Bieber with Tiffany CEO Anthony Ledru at the store’s grand reopening in April 

The renovated building was reopened in April this year after months of refurbishment 

The iconic store at 727 Fifth Avenue was featured in the 1961 film Breakfast At Tiffany’s. Today, there is an ‘Audrey Room’ inside the newly refurbished, 10-storey building 

The ten-floor store at 727 Fifth Avenue shares the block with Trump Tower, which did not suffer any damage 

‘We got lost in the building. Here is a guy getting lost in his own shop. I said, “We have some work to do on this.”‘ 

Part of the renovation was the addition of The Blue Box Café on the sixth floor. 

The first floor is occupied with an expansive showroom and store. There are ten floors total – half of which are open to the public. 

In a statement, a Tiffany’s spokesperson said: ‘This morning prior to store opening hours, an electrical fire broke out in the basement on the periphery of the Tiffany Landmark on Fifth Avenue in New York City. 

‘The fire has since been put out and we are working with the New York Fire Department to take precautionary measures to ensure the safety of our employees and clients. 

‘The store is expected to open later today following inspection by the Fire Marshal.’

The flagship store opened in 1940 but was made famous around the world 21 years later in Breakfast At Tiffany’s. 

Its iconic windows are where Audrey Hepburn, playing the penniless Holly Golightly, gazed at diamonds and pearls while nibbling croissants after a night on the town. 

In January 2020, the store – pending the LVMH deal – closed for refurbishments that were due to only take a year. 

The deal faltered during the early phases of the COVID-19 pandemic and renovations took longer than expected. It finally reopened in April.  

Smoke billows out from the basement beneath Tiffany’s after the fire broke out on Thursday