Woolworth Building

During the time period that this blog covers, 1880-1920, there were seven skyscrapers in New York City that held the distinction as the world's tallest at some point. The Woolworth Building, shown in the picture above around 1913 when it was nearing completion, was the seventh and final building to hold the title during this time period. It did so from its completion in 1913 until 1930, when the nearby 40 Wall Street building (at the time called the Bank of Manhattan Trust Building) surpassed its height to briefly hold the record. Interestingly, the above photo also shows the Park Row Building and the Singer Building, both of which had held the record for the world's tallest skyscraper.

Shown in this night photo from between 1913 and 1920, the Woolworth Building fit in with the skyscraper architecture of the time, having a large base and a relatively narrow tower reaching to the top. The building directly beneath it in the foreground is the City Hall Post Office and Courthouse, which was demolished in 1939 to extend City Hall Park.

Today, the Woolworth Building still looks much the same as it did nearly 100 years ago, and at 792 feet high it remains one of the tallest buildings in the United States. By way of comparison, the John Hancock Tower in Boston, the tallest building in New England, was completed in 1976, and is "only" 790 feet tall. As of 2012, the Woolworth Building is the 16th tallest in New York City and the 44th tallest in the United States.

Singer Building

Taken between 1910 and 1920, this photo shows the Singer Building, the next building in New York City to hold the record for the tallest building in the world. It held the record for only two years though, from 1908 to 1909, before being surpassed by the Metropolitan Life Tower in Midtown. It was the world headquarters for the Singer Manufacturing Company, of sewing machine fame.

Unlike most of New York's other early skyscrapers, the Singer Building was constructed with a large base, but a relatively narrow tower. This went along with the common architectural technique of building setbacks for skyscrapers, but it also meant that the 35-story tower above the 12-story base was tall, but had very limited office space.

In 1961, Singer sold the building and moved their headquarters uptown. Because it had such limited office space, it was demolished in 1968 and replaced with 1 Liberty Plaza, a nondescript 54 story skyscraper with much more space, but much less aesthetic appeal. Located directly across from the World Trade Center, 1 Liberty Plaza received light damage when the Twin Towers fell. Incidentally, the Singer Tower set the record for the tallest building ever demolished, a record that was only broken when the Twin Towers fell in 2001. The Singer Tower remains the tallest building ever peacefully demolished.