 Altman's was the first big department store to make the move from the "Ladies' Mile" shopping district, where the dry-goods emporia had been located, to Fifth Avenue.That neighborhood was still almost entirely residential at the time, and the design of the new building, across the street from the grand residence of department-store rival A. T. Stewart's and diagonally across the avenue from the residence of Mrs. Astor, was planned to fit in with these palatial mansions around it.Following Altman's example, the other big stores, like Lord and Taylor in 1914, followed and made the move uptown as well.