Mastering his trade turned Litton into showroom star.

Sitting behind two large computer screens; one for searching the web, the other displaying a very high-tech, sophisticated security system showing the hallways and floors of 295 Fifth Avenue; and surrounded by original movie posters and statues from 1930's through the 60's, was Claude Litton.

Collecting movie memorabilia is a hobby that started about 17 years ago when a tenant at the building left a tube of James Bond posters behind. His collection mushroomed into 300 posters and 350 statues. Having the most and being the best are values Litton has carried throughout his life and career.

Litton has been president of the Manhattan Properties Company, located at 295 Fifth Avenue, for 28 years. He has been hailed for single-andedly turning 295 from a non-descript office building to a world-renowned textile showroom building.

"My dad taught me at a very young age 'don't be a jack of all trades because then you're a master of nothing.' You're best off specializing in something and being the best in your field. I learned that to be the best, you have to have the most, and the best and the biggest tenants, in terms of dollar amount, not necessarily in size," said Litton.

Today, the 660,000 s/f building stands proudly as the premier speciality building in the city. It is home to over 170 of the approximately 300 showrooms in Manhattan and houses the work of some of the biggest names in home textiles, including Liz Claiborne, Oscar de la Renta, Nautica and Town & Country Living.

Although he has had great success in property management, Litton's arrival into real estate came accidentally.

When in college, he became a pilot in the Reserved Officers Training Corps (ROTC) to get a deferment to finish his studies at New York University where he received his BS.

After serving in Korea, Litton--a lifetime math buff--set his mind on becoming a computer programmer and got a job developing an insurance program for a developer. He later became an insurance underwriter while he studied law at night school, subsequently-graduating from Brooklyn Law School with his JD.

He then took an insurance job at the Irving Trust Company (now the Bank of New York) but soon decided to put his law degree to good use and attended an interview that his friend set him up with at a city law firm.

He thought he was interviewing for a legal job but later discovered the legal team was seeking a manager for their client's building.

That building turned out to be 295 Fifth Avenue which, at the time, was home to 80 tenants, 50 of which were industry showrooms. Litton devised a strategy to become a master of the textile showroom trade and set about strategically repositioning the building by replacing non-industry tenants with textile firms seeking showroom space.

It was almost 30 years ago and Manhattan then housed some 500 showrooms. However, Litton is proud to be among those remaining. He said, "I basically made 295 a destination point.

"Today, we're well known as the largest home textile showroom in the country, and we are getting a tremendous influx of tenants from overseas, including China, India and Pakistan."

He believes he's been afforded a unique opportunity to build his clientele. "The big difference is that other buildings are run by brokers. Brokers work on commission and that's their livelihood, so they want to fill the place up. I don't have to fill the space up.

"During the 1980s, there was a serious drought of tenants and I left a 10,000 s/f space empty for six years rather than rent to someone who wasn't trade. In my opinion, the only non-industry is the bank."

While there's usually a hushed atmosphere in the building, it erupts into life twice a year during the trade's market weeks held in February and August.

Some 10,000 buyers from around the world descend on the building during the market weeks to buy goods for the shelves of such stores as WalMart, Sears-KMart, JC Penney, Macy's, Target and Kohl's. In February, they're buying or ordering goods for Christmas and in August they're ordering goods for the next summer. "It's a zoo," laughed Litton. "But that's what the building lives for.