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.

Metropolitan Life Insurance Tower

The next building after the Singer Building to hold the record for the world's highest was the Metropolitan Life Insurance Tower, located in Midtown Manhattan at Madison Square. It held the title from 1909 to 1913, around the time when the above photo was taken.

The photo above, taken between 1909 and 1920, shows the tower at night, with Madison Square in the foreground.


Although the tower was built in 1909, the rest of the building was older. The above photo, taken around 1900, shows the Metropolitan Life Insurance Building (built in 1893) prior to the construction of the 50-story tower. The tower was built at the site of the church on the left-hand side of the picture, Madison Square Presbyterian Church.

The company later built another building just to the north in order to add office space for the growing company, and in the 1950s the original 1893 building (but not the tower) was replaced by the current building.

This view of the Metropolitan Life Insurance Tower, taken from the Empire State Building in January 2011, shows the 1909 tower just to the right of center. Notice that just beyond the tower, at the base, is the building that replaced the original 1893 office building in the 1950s. On the other side of the tower, in the center of the photo, is the North Building, which was completed in 1950. These buildings served as the headquarters of Met Life until 2005. As of now, there are plans to convert the tower into a hotel.

Park Row Building

After the New York World Building, the next highest building in the world was in, of all places, Milwaukee Wisconsin. However, their city hall was the tallest building only for a few years until this building, built in 1899 and photographed in 1912, the Park Row Building. Right up the road from the World Building, it was 390 feet high, and stood as the tallest building in the world until 1901, and the tallest office building in the world until 1908.

This photo, taken from New York Harbor between 1899 and 1901, shows the Park Row Building (center) towering over the previous tallest skyscraper in the world, the New York World Building (the dome-topped building to the left).

Today, the Park Row Building still exists, although it has been extensively renovated to turn most of the building into apartments. At over 100 years old, it is one of the oldest skyscrapers in the city, and it is the oldest one to have once held the title of the world's tallest building.