| Woolworth Building | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Record height | |
| Tallest in the world from 1913 to 1930[I] | |
| Preceded by | Metropolitan Life Insurance Company Tower |
| Surpassed by | 40 Wall Street |
| General information | |
| Location | 233 Broadway, New York City |
| Construction started | 1910 |
| Completed | 1913 |
| Opening | April 24, 1913 |
| Cost | $13,500,000 |
| Owner | Witkoff Group |
| Height | |
| Roof | 792 ft (241 m) |
| Technical details | |
| Floor count | 57 |
| Design and construction | |
| Architect(s) | Cass Gilbert |
| Structural engineer | Gunvald Aus and Kort Berle |
Woolworth Building | |
  Location in New York City | |
| Coordinates | 40°42′44″N 74°00′29″W / 40.71222°N 74.00806°W |
| Area | 0.5 acres (0.2 ha) |
| Architectural style | Gothic Revival |
| NRHP reference No. | 66000554 |
| Added to NRHP | November 13, 1966 |
| References | |
| [1] | |
The Woolworth Building is a skyscraper in Lower Manhattan. It opened in 1913 under the direction of F. W. Woolworth, founder of F. W. Woolworth Company, and was the tallest building in the world from 1913 until 1930. The structure is 792 feet (241 m) tall and has 57 stories.
More than 95 years after its construction, it is still one of the fifty tallest buildings in the United States and one of the twenty tallest buildings in New York City. The building was listed as a National Historic Landmark in 1966.[2]
History edit
The Woolworth Building was built by Frank W. Woolworth, founder and owner of F. W. Woolworth Company, one of the most successful retail outlets of 20th-century America and the originator of the five and dime store.The Woolworth served as company headquarters upon its completion in 1913.[3]
Born and raised in Jefferson County, New York, Frank W. Woolworth left public school at the age of sixteen to attend commercial college in Watertown. Starting in 1873, he began working for Augsberg and Moore, a dry goods merchant store in Watertown. After moving to a few other jobs, he returned to his original employer—then renamed Moore and Smith—in 1877. In 1878, Woolworth saw promise in the five-cent-item marketing plan in place in his store, and with that idea successfully opened a five-cent store in Utica with funding help from Moore and Smith.[4] The Utica store was a failure, so Woolworth moved to Lancaster, Pennsylvania where he opened a new store in June 1879. The Lancaster store became very successful—especially after the maximum price was raised to 10 cents—and Woolworth opened two new stores, both of which ultimately failed.[3] Undeterred, Woolworth opened another store in Scranton, which was a success. The two stores grossed $24,125 in 1882. Woolworth's success exploded over the next decades, from seven stores grossing $100,000 in 1886, to 59 stores grossing more than $5 million in 1900.[5] In 1911, Woolworth merged four rival companies into his, increasing the company 596 stores coast to coast.[3]
By 1913, Woolworth was wealthy enough to pay the $13.5 million price tag on a new headquarters to be built in downtown Manhattan. His appreciation of Gothic architecture, especially that of the Palace of Westminster in London, led architect Cass Gilbert to design a building in the Gothic Revival style. Construction began in 1910 and was completed in 1913. The building was dedicated at 7:30 p.m. on April 24, 1913, with a press of a button by President Woodrow Wilson in Washington, D.C., which illuminated 80,000 bulbs for onlookers to see.[6] Woolworth paid for his building in cash.[4] The Woolworth overtook the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company Tower as the world's tallest building.
The Woolworth was a significant step in the history of skyscrapers.[4]
Description edit
Architecture edit
The Woolworth Building was constructed in neo-Gothic style by architect Cass Gilbert, who was commissioned by Frank Woolworth in 1910 to design the new corporate headquarters on Broadway, between Park Place and Barclay Street in Lower Manhattan, opposite City Hall. Originally planned to be 625 feet (190.5 m) high, in accordance with the area's zoning laws, the building was eventually elevated to 792 feet (241 m). The construction cost was $13,500,000 and Woolworth paid all of it in cash. On completion, the Woolworth building overtook the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company Tower as the world's tallest building; it opened on April 24, 1913.
With splendor and a resemblance to European Gothic cathedrals, the structure was labeled the Cathedral of Commerce by the Reverend S. Parkes Cadman during the opening ceremony. It remained the tallest building in the world until the construction of 40 Wall Street and the Chrysler Building in 1930; an observation deck on the 57th floor attracted visitors until 1945.
The building's tower, flush with the main frontage on Broadway, is raised on a block base with a narrow interior court for light. The exterior decoration was cast in limestone-colored, glazed architectural terra-cotta panels. Strongly articulated piers, carried—without interrupting cornices—right to the pyramidal cap, give the building its upward thrust. The Gothic detailing concentrated at the highly visible top is massively scaled, able to be read from the street level several hundred feet below. The ornate, cruciform lobby has a vaulted ceiling, mosaics, and sculpted caricatures that include Gilbert and Woolworth. Woolworth's private office, revetted in marble in French Empire style, is preserved.
Engineers Gunvald Aus and Kort Berle designed the steel frame, supported on massive caissons that penetrate to the bedrock. The high-speed elevators were innovative, and the building's high office-to-elevator ratio made the structure profitable.
Tenants included the Irving Trust bank and Columbia Records. Columbia Records had moved into the building in 1913 and housed a recording studio in it.[7] In 1917, Columbia made a recording of a dixieland band, the Original Dixieland Jass Band in this studio.[8][9]
Recent history edit
The building was owned by the Woolworth company for 85 years until 1998, when the Venator Group (formerly the F. W. Woolworth Company) sold it to the Witkoff Group for $155 million.[10] Until recently, that company kept a presence in the building through a Foot Locker store (Foot Locker is the successor to the Woolworth Company).
After the September 11, 2001 attacks a few blocks away, the building was without electricity, water and telephone service for a few weeks but suffered no major damage. Increased post-attack security restricted access to most of the ornate lobby, previously a tourist attraction.[11]
The structure has a long association with higher education, housing a number of Fordham University schools in the early 20th century. Today, the building houses, among other tenants, Control Group Inc. and the New York University School of Continuing and Professional Studies' Center for Global Affairs.[citation needed]
See also edit
References edit
- ^ Woolworth Building at Emporis
- ^ "Woolworth Building". National Historic Landmark summary listing. National Park Service. 2007-09-23.
- ^ a b c Woolworth Co. (2010). Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved June 27, 2010, from Encyclopædia Britannica Online.
- ^ a b c Heintzleman and McKithan (1978), p. 3
- ^ Heintzleman and McKithan (1978), p. 7
- ^ Heintzleman and McKithan (1978), p. 12
- ^ Hoffman, Frank, Encyclopedia of Recorded Sound, New York & London : Routledge, 1993 & 2005, Volume 1. Cf. p.212, article on "Columbia (Label)".
- ^ Cogan, Jim; Clark, William, Temples of sound : inside the great recording studios, San Francisco : Chronicle Books, 2003. ISBN 0811833941. Cf. chapter on Columbia Studios.
- ^ "The Woolworth Building", NYC Architecture
- ^ recordonline.com - The Times Herald-Record, serving New York’s Hudson Valley and the Catskills
- ^ Brainstorm: American Architectural Wonder: Keep Out - Chronicle.com
- Heintzleman, Patricia (1978-01-23). "National Register of Historic Places Inventory/Nomination: The Woolworth Building". New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation. Retrieved 2010-12-25.
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External links edit
- "Designation List 164: The Woolworth Building", New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission, April 12, 1983
- Great Buildings on-line – the Woolworth Building
- Medieval New York website – Construction details and photo images of the Woolworth Building
- New York Architecture Images – The Woolworth Building
