Information about Woolworth Building

Information
Woolworth Building
Woolworth Building Woolworth Building was the world's tallest building from 1913 to 1930.*
Preceded by	Metropolitan Life Insurance Company Tower
Surpassed by	40 Wall Street
Location	233 Broadway, New York, NY, USA
Status	Complete
Constructed	1910-1913
Technical details
Floor count	57
*Fully habitable, self-supported, from main entrance to highest structural or architectural top; see world's tallest buildings and structures for other listings.

The Woolworth Building, at fifty-seven 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 is 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.^[1],^[2],^[3]

Architecture

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, the Woolworth Building opened on April 24, 1913. Originally planned to be 625 feet (190.5 meters) high, the building was elevated to 792 feet (241 meters); construction cost was US$13,500,000 and Woolworth paid in cash.

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. 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.

Engineer Gunvald Aus designed the steel frame, supported on massive caissons that penetrate to 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, who housed a recording studio in the building.

Recently

Owned by the Woolworth company for 85 years until 1998, when the Venator Group (formerly the F.W. Woolworth Company) sold the building to the Witkoff Group for $155 million [1].

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.

In popular culture

In the computer game Sim City 3000, the "Quigley Insurance" building is modeled after the Woolworth Building.
The Woolworth Building is one of the available landmarks in the computer game .

References

1. ^ Woolworth Building. National Historic Landmark summary listing. National Park Service (2007-09-23).
2. ^ ["The Woolworth Building", by Patricia Heintzelman and Cecil McKithan, January 6, 1978PDF (439 KB) National Register of Historic Places Inventory-Nomination]. National Park Service (1978-01-06).
3. ^ [The Woolworth Building--Accompanying 3 photos, exterior, from 1975.PDF (563 KB) National Register of Historic Places Inventory-Nomination]. National Park Service (1978-01-06).

Images

Woolworth Building

Above the clouds

Detail

External links

Great Buildings on-line - the Woolworth Building
Medieval New York website - Construction details and photo images of the Woolworth Building
NYCfoto.com - Woolworth Building (before and after 9/11)
New York Architecture Images - THE WOOLWORTH BUILDING

Preceded by Metropolitan Life Insurance Company Tower	Tallest building in the world 1913—1930 792ft (241m)	Succeeded by 40 Wall Street
Preceded by Metropolitan Life Insurance Company Tower	Tallest Building in New York City 1913—1930	Succeeded by 40 Wall Street

• • [ e] U.S. National Register of Historic Places
History of the National Register of Historic Places Property types Historic district Contributing property
List of entries National Park Service

Coordinates:

19th century - 20th century - 21st century
1900s 1910s 1920s - 1930s - 1940s 1950s 1960s
1927 1928 1929 - 1930 - 1931 1932 1933

Year 1930 (MCMXXX
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Metropolitan Life Insurance Company Tower (also Met Life Tower) at One Madison Avenue, New York City was the world's tallest building from 1909 to 1913, when it was surpassed by the Woolworth Building.
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Location: 40 Wall Street, Manhattan, New York City, New York

Built/Founded: 1929-1930
Architect: H. Craig Severance

Added to NRHP: June 16, 2000

NRHP Reference#: 00000577 ^[1]

40 Wall Street
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Broadway, as the name implies, is a wide avenue in New York City. While New York has several other Broadways, in the context of the city it frequently refers to the Manhattan avenue which also runs into the Bronx and Westchester County.
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Manhattan is a borough of New York City, New York, USA, with New York County. With a 2000 population of 1,537,195^[2] living in a land area of 22.96 square miles (59.
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Motto
"In God We Trust" (since 1956)
"E Pluribus Unum" ("From Many, One"; Latin, traditional)
Anthem
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19th century - 20th century - 21st century
1880s 1890s 1900s - 1910s - 1920s 1930s 1940s
1907 1908 1909 - 1910 - 1911 1912 1913

Year 1910 (MCMX
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19th century - 20th century - 21st century
1880s 1890s 1900s - 1910s - 1920s 1930s 1940s
1910 1911 1912 - 1913 - 1914 1915 1916

Year 1913 (MCMXIII
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world's tallest structure has generally been straightforward, the definition of the world's tallest building or the world's tallest tower is less clear. The disputes generally centers on what should be counted as a building or a tower
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skyscraper is a very tall, continuously habitable building. There is no official definition or a precise cutoff height above which a building may clearly be classified as a skyscraper.
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City of New York
New York City at sunset

Flag
Seal
Nickname: The Big Apple, Gotham, The City that Never Sleeps
Location in the state of New York
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This list of tallest buildings in the United States ranks skyscrapers in the United States based on official height. The country is home to many of the world's tallest buildings.
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list of tallest buildings in New York City ranks skyscrapers in New York City by height. The tallest building in the city is currently the Empire State Building. World Trade Center Towers 1 and 2 (at 1,368 feet (417 m) and 1,362 feet (415 m) respectively) were the first and second
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National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a building, district, site, structure, or object, almost always within the United States, officially recognized by the United States government for its historical significance.
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Gothic Revival was an architectural movement which originated in mid-18th century England. In the nineteenth century, increasingly serious and learned neo-Gothic styles sought to revive medieval forms, in distinction to the classical styles which were prevalent at the time.
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Cass Gilbert (November 29, 1859 – May 17, 1934) was a pioneering American architect.^[1] An early proponent of skyscrapers in works like the Woolworth Building, Gilbert was also responsible for numerous museums and libraries (Saint Louis Art Museum), state capitol
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Franklin Winfield Woolworth (April 13 1852 – April 8 1919) was an American merchant. Born in Rodman, N.Y., he was the founder of F.W. Woolworth Company, an operator of discount stores that priced merchandise at five and ten cents.
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Lower Manhattan is the southernmost part of the island of Manhattan, the main island and center of business and government of the City of New York. Lower Manhattan is generally defined as the area delineated on the north by Chambers Street, on the west by the Hudson River (North
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Location: New York, New York

Built/Founded: 1811

Architectural style(s): French Renaissance, Georgian
Added to NRHP: October 15, 1966^[1]

NRHP Reference#: 66000539

Governing body: Local
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April 24 is the 1st day of the year (2nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 0 days remaining.

Events

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1 foot =
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0 m 0 mm
US customary / Imperial units
0 yd 0 in

A foot (plural: feet or foot;^[1] symbol or abbreviation: ft or, sometimes, ′
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1 metre =
SI units
1000 mm 0 cm
US customary / Imperial units
0 ft 0 in

The metre or meter^[1](symbol: m) is the fundamental unit of length in the International System of Units (SI).
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United States dollar
dólar estadounidense (Spanish)
dólar amerikanu (Tetum)
dólar americano
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Gothic architecture is a style of architecture which flourished in Europe during the high and late medieval period. It was preceded by Romanesque architecture and was succeeded by Renaissance architecture.
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cathedral is a Christian church that contains the seat of a bishop. It is a religious building for worship, specifically of a denomination with an episcopal hierarchy, such as the Roman Catholic, Anglican, Orthodox and some Lutheran churches, which serves as a bishop's seat, and
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The Chrysler Building is an Art Deco skyscraper in New York City, located on the east side of Manhattan at the intersection of 42nd Street and Lexington Avenue. Standing at 319 m (1047 ft) high,^[1]
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