Everything about The Woolworth Building totally explained
The
Woolworth Building, at 57 stories, is one of the oldest—and one of the most famous—
skyscrapers in
New York City. More than ninety years after its construction, it's still one of the
fifty tallest buildings in the United States as well as one of the
twenty tallest buildings in New York City. The building is a
National Historic Landmark, having been listed in 1966.
Architecture
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 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 58th 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, which housed a
recording studio in the building.
Recent history
Venator Group (formerly the
F. W. Woolworth Company) sold it to the
Witkoff Group for $155 million.
Prior to its 2001 destruction, the
World Trade Center was often photographed in such a way that the Woolworth Building could be seen in the gap between the twin towers.
After the
September 11, 2001 attacks a few blocks away, the building was without electricity and telephone service for a few weeks but suffered no significant damage. Increased post-attack security restricted access to most of the ornate lobby, previously a tourist attraction.
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.
The Woolworth Building has made some notable appearances in film. In the movie
Enchanted, Narissa the dragon carries Robert up to the top of it. After killing the dragon, Robert and Giselle slide down. In the film
Cloverfield, it collapses after the monster critically damages it.
Further Information
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