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145-757: The City Investing Building , also known as the Broadway–Cortlandt Building and the Benenson Building , was an office building and early skyscraper in Manhattan , New York. Serving as the headquarters of the City Investing Company, it was on Cortlandt Street between Church Street and Broadway in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan . The building was designed by Francis Kimball and constructed by

290-428: A grid network and followed new city ordinances that prohibited construction in wood. These factors encouraged the building of taller properties in new innovative designs, which, like New York, saw a range of businesses and services being packed into single buildings. Especially popular in the post-fire era were "commercial blocks", several-story masonry buildings built to property lines with only one street facade that

435-543: A base with four stories and a raised basement; a shaft with 21 stories and a full-height cornice ; and a capital with six stories and an attic. There was also a cellar below the raised basement. The City Investing Building rose 486 feet (148 m) above Broadway. Sources differ on how many stories the building had. An official building brochure and the Engineering Record described the building as having 32 stories, as counted from Broadway, although this excluded

580-458: A base, middle section and the roof line. This tripartite design was intended both to emulate classical columns, and reflect the functions of the different parts of the skyscraper. The central court could form a simple courtyard, but many companies preferred to roof over the courtyard with glass to produce an atrium for shops and restaurants. Rents for these shops were up to five or six times that for office space, and made an important difference to

725-765: A building with a grand lobby and 21 tenant elevators. The City Investing Company bought the Coal and Iron Exchange Building at Church and Cortlandt Streets in January 1906. It bought further land on Cortlandt Street the same April. The general construction contract was given to the Hedden Construction Company in September 1906. The next month, there circulated rumors that the City Investing Building would rise to 39 stories—one less than

870-450: A busy businessman. At the same time, the more lavish ground floor designs would make the building stand out to passers-by and pull in the necessary business for a successful commercial building. This community also saw close collaboration between architects, specialist structural engineers, and building contractors emerge on the new skyscraper projects. Historically the industry had been dominated by individuals and small firms who combined

1015-478: A ceiling of 22 feet (6.7 m), the second story 20 feet (6.1 m) and the third story 16.5 feet (5.0 m). Most of the subsequent stories had ceiling heights of between 11 and 14 feet (3.4 and 4.3 m), although the 26th floor had a ceiling of 16 feet (4.9 m). The basement, at ground level at Church Street, had a ceiling of 13 feet (4.0 m) and the cellar had a ceiling of 24 feet (7.3 m). A 32,000-square-foot (3,000 m) cellar extended under

1160-551: A classical style, such as the Mutual Life, Atlantic Mutual , and Broad Exchange Buildings , all designed by Clinton and Russell . Others broke new ground, including the Flatiron Building which opened in 1903 near Madison Square. The Chicago firm of Daniel Hudsdon Burnham designed the 307 feet (94 m) high, 21 story structure; the unusually shaped, narrow building needed particularly strong wind bracing, while

1305-702: A common height: "horizontal visual unity". In the aftermath of the Exposition, many of these advocates joined with the Beaux-Arts movement to form the City Beautiful movement , proposing low-rise cities with wide boulevards, built in a classical style. These critics condemned New York's skyscrapers, Montgomery Schuyler describing how they had produced a "horribly jagged sierra" of a city skyline and complaining that no modern skyscraper had turned out to be an architectural success. Charles Lamb argued that

1450-496: A conglomerate that had split from the United States Realty and Construction Company in late 1904. By early 1906, he had hired Kimball, who at the time was well known for constructing other bulky skyscrapers whose construction required pneumatic caissons. Dowling intended the building to include large floors for the growing number of tenants who sought large amounts of office space on a single floor. Dowling also wanted

1595-669: A depth of 313 feet (95 m), abutting the Singer Building to the south. The site slopes down from Broadway to Church Street, so that there was a raised basement facing Church Street, which was below ground at Broadway. The City Investing Building's northeastern section wrapped around a real estate holdout , the Gilsey Building (also the Wessels Building or Benedict Building), at the southwestern corner of Cortlandt Street and Broadway. The Gilsey Building had

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1740-480: A frontage of 56.5 feet (17.2 m) on Broadway and 106 feet (32 m) on Cortlandt Street. The City Investing Building's original owner, the City Investing Company, held a long-term lease for the Gilsey Building, which would have eventually been demolished to make way for an addition to the City Investing Building. To the south, there was a gap of 10 feet (3.0 m) between the City Investing Building and

1885-482: A grand style. The Unity Building , for example, was reported as including "Numidian, Alps, Green and Sienna marbles ... an artistic screen of glass and bronze ... a marble balcony" alongside "Corinthian columns with finely carved capitals, gold-leaf and silver chandeliers, and silver-plated latticework" on the elevators. The aim was to project a sense of prosperity and solid financial credentials, which in turn would attract tenants willing to pay high rents. For

2030-652: A growing, vibrant center. As early as 1868, its commercial buildings were touted as being "unequalled in the East for grandeur, business, or wealth," but such claims were regarded as risible. By the 1870s, Chicago had become the main financial center for the West, but in October 1871 the Great Chicago Fire destroyed the majority of the wooden structures within the city. The city was rebuilt on large plots of land in

2175-412: A halt, ending this era of skyscraper construction. Popular and academic culture embraced the skyscraper through films, photography, literature, and ballet, seeing the buildings as either positive symbols of modernity and science, or alternatively examples of the ills of modern life and society. Skyscraper projects after World War II typically rejected the designs of the early skyscrapers, instead embracing

2320-510: A key seaport located on the small island of Manhattan , on the east coast of the U.S. As a consequence of its colonial history and city planning , New York's real estate was broken up into many small parcels of land, with few large sites. During the first half of the 19th century it became the national center of American finance, and the banks in the financial district of Manhattan competed fiercely with English institutions for international dominance. The Great Fire of 1835 destroyed most of

2465-461: A label for tall office blocks, coming into widespread use over the next decade. Unlike the tall buildings of Antiquity and the Middle Ages, which were primarily built for ceremonial and religious purposes, skyscrapers were largely targeted towards business applications. Various technological developments of the 19th century, which included such design elements as wind bracing and crucially

2610-502: A law to limit new buildings to a maximum of 123 feet (37 m), effectively banning the construction of skyscrapers. The cities of Philadelphia, Los Angeles and Washington D.C. similarly introduced height restriction laws to limit skyscraper construction. The decisive factor in favor of change in Chicago, however, was the economic slowdown in the early 1890s, which gave way to the financial panic of 1893 . The recession, combined with

2755-531: A load of 1,719 short tons (1,535 long tons; 1,559 t) and had a cross section of 253.9 square inches (1,638 cm). The floors consisted of hollow-tile flat arches or concrete with cinder filling, and were surfaced with mosaic or terrazzo tiles. The distributing girders on the third story of the Broadway wing were the largest and heaviest to be used in the building; they comprised a triple girder weighing about 105 short tons (94 long tons; 95 t) and spanning

2900-486: A major metropolis only in the mid-19th century, growing from a village of around fifty inhabitants in 1830 , to a city of 30,000 in 1850 and nearly 300,000 by 1870 . Chicago became the railroad hub for the American West and the primary trading city for the emerging territories, famous for its commercial culture. It saw itself as different from the cities on the east coast and was immensely proud of its status as

3045-561: A partnership with the mechanical arts. Their practices tended to be smaller, resembling atelier style workshops. Structural engineers in New York took longer to build up a strong professional role there, a trend reflected in the lower engineering quality of many early skyscrapers in the city. The New York style emphasized stunning height and a somewhat eclectic use of architectural features from other periods, creating an energetic, flamboyant appearance. Towers were common, making best use of

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3190-535: A pattern first invented in the Oriel Chambers building in England in 1864. This allowed the average small company to rent a small amount of space using one or two offices, but held out the option for future expansion by renting additional office cubicles if required at a later date. A skyscraper office relied on natural sunlight from the windows but if necessary was dimly lit from electric desk-top lamps. By

3335-486: A planned build became known. The properties at the front of the site would typically be bought first, so if news broke of the skyscraper then those owning property at the back of the plot would have little choice but to sell anyway. The funding for skyscraper developments was normally lent by banks, insurance companies, or raised through bonds sold through a specialised bond house, with the latter becoming increasingly popular after World War I. Efforts were made to improve

3480-416: A record for the period. Improved windbracing techniques were introduced. The use of pneumatic caissons in skyscraper foundations grew more advanced; in the construction of the 1908 Manhattan Municipal Building they were successfully sunk 144 feet (44 m) below the surface, with specially conditioned workers operating in shifts with constant medical support. New technologies were also introduced within

3625-399: A small factory to visitors, and ultimately expanded to employ 180 staff. The resulting Chicago school produced large, solid-looking skyscrapers, built with a common appearance and to a common height. The result was usually a box-like palazzo , illuminated with a large light court, ideally, if space allowed, in the center. The outside of the building was commonly divided into three parts:

3770-403: A solid rock layer 80 feet (24 m) beneath Broadway. The main excavation was carried to 24 feet (7.3 m) below Broadway, except at the site of the boiler room, where the excavations were carried 30 feet (9.1 m) deep. Each caisson was 12.33 feet (4 m) and made of yellow pine. A steel shaft rose from each of the caissons. The underlying ground was drawn out from the caissons, and then

3915-882: A temporary floor collapsed in June 1907. The building was completed in a then-record 22 months, having employed 3,000 workers. Tenants started moving into the building in April 1908. Early tenants of the City Investing Building included the Interborough Rapid Transit Company , Midvale Steel , the American Car and Foundry Company , the Southern Pacific Transportation Company , the Westinghouse Air Brake Company , New York Air Brake , and

4060-442: A very high proportion of usable – and thus rentable – floor space, with a great deal of light and a flexible floor plan that could be subdivided for different tenants. Up-to-date fittings were installed to encourage a high-class of tenants, including the world's fastest elevators, safety features, and a swimming pool. Gilbert adopted the Beaux-Arts style, using accented terracotta and glass to emphasis vertical lines, elegantly echoing

4205-490: A wing to Broadway that wrapped around a real estate holdout , the Gilsey Building . Inside was a massive lobby stretching between Broadway and Church Street. The upper stories each contained between 5,200 and 19,500 square feet (480 and 1,810 m) of space on each floor. Work on the City Investing Building started in 1906, and it opened in 1908 with about 12 acres (49,000 m; 520,000 sq ft) of floor area, becoming one of New York City's largest office buildings at

4350-626: Is a waste". Monadnock Block , the tallest load-bearing brick building ever constructed, is an example of such a strict approach. By the 1890s, Chicago architects were producing a solution to this problem, creating a new architectural style, often termed the "Chicago school of architecture". The school included architects such as Louis Sullivan and Dankmar Adler , Jenney, John Root , and William Holabird and Martin Roche , whose designs combined architectural aesthetic theory with practical commercial sense. They favoured placing rich, ornate designs on

4495-542: Is academic disagreement over which building should be considered the first skyscraper. Identifying the first "true skyscraper" is not straightforward, and various candidates exist depending on the criteria applied. George Post's New York Equitable Life Building of 1870, for example, was the first tall office building to use the elevator, while his Produce Exchange building of 1884 made substantial structural advances in metal frame design. The Home Insurance Building in Chicago, opened in 1885, is, however, most often labeled

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4640-428: Is not a matter of art, but of business. A building must pay, or there will be no investor ready with the money to meet its cost. This is at once the curse and the glory of American architecture." George Hill echoed the theme, condemning unnecessary features on the basis that "every cubic foot that is used for purely ornamental purposes beyond that needed to express its use and to make it harmonize with others of its class,

4785-694: The Art Deco or " set-back " style of skyscrapers, leading to structures that focused on volume and striking silhouettes, often richly decorated. Skyscraper heights continued to grow, with the Chrysler and the Empire State Buildings each claiming new records, reaching 1,046 feet (319 m) and 1,250 feet (380 m) respectively. With the onset of the Great Depression , the real estate market collapsed, and new builds stuttered to

4930-515: The Hedden Construction Company . Because of the area's sloping topography, the City Investing Building rose 32 stories above Broadway and 33 stories above Church Street, excluding an attic. The bulk of the building was 26 stories high above Church Street and was capped by a seven-story central portion with gable roofs . The building had an asymmetrical F-shaped footprint with a light court facing Cortlandt Street, as well as

5075-685: The Jones and Laughlin Steel Company . In December 1919, London banker Grigori Benenson bought the City Investing Building for $ 10 million in cash. At the time, the building was estimated to be worth $ 7 million, but contained a $ 5.75 million mortgage held by the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company . The City Investing Building was accordingly renamed the Benenson Building. Benenson acquired

5220-549: The Monadnock Building , combined elements of both the newer and older styles, but generally Chicago rapidly adopted steel structures as a flexible and effective way to produce a range of tall buildings. Structural engineers specializing in the steel frame design began to establish practices in Chicago. There was a boom in skyscraper construction in Chicago from 1888 onwards. By 1893, Chicago had built 12 skyscrapers between 16 and 20 stories tall, tightly clustered in

5365-649: The Railway Exchange , the Peoples Gas and the Illinois Continental and Commercial Bank Buildings were each substantial, quarter-block wide palazzo cubes of common height, their facades divided into a classical tripartite design, and sporting classical columns and other features. Despite the apparent uniformity of design, individual buildings varied considerably in the detail of their designs in effort to express their particular identities,

5510-539: The United States Navy . In 2020, American Bridge Company was acquired by Southland Holdings LLC. American Bridge Company was founded in April 1900, when J.P. Morgan & Co. led a consolidation of 28 of the largest U.S. steel fabricators and constructors. The company's roots extend to the late 1860s, when one of the consolidated firms, Keystone Bridge Company , built the Eads Bridge at St. Louis ,

5655-1272: The Wainwright Building , Wilder Building , and Guaranty Building . Early examples on the West Coast include the Old Chronicle Building and the Call Building in San Francisco , as well as the Luzon Building in Tacoma, Washington . Early skyscrapers outside the United States include the APA Building (1889) in Melbourne , Australia, the Ryōunkaku (1890) in Tokyo , Japan and the Witte Huis (1898) in Rotterdam ,

5800-480: The international style; many older skyscrapers were redesigned to suit contemporary tastes or even demolished—such as the Singer Tower, once the world's tallest skyscraper. Tall structures have been built in some form or another for millennia. Egypt's Great Pyramid of Giza , built in the 26th century BC at a height of 481 feet (147 m), would remain the tallest structure on Earth for a millennia until it

5945-507: The interwar years , skyscrapers spread to nearly all major U.S. cities, while in total of around 100 were built in some other Western countries (like Argentina, Brazil, Germany, Italy, Poland, Spain, United Kingdom etc.) and the Asian countries (China, Japan). The economic boom of the 1920s and extensive real estate speculation encouraged a wave of new skyscraper projects in New York and Chicago. New York City's 1916 Zoning Resolution helped shape

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6090-555: The palazzo style made popular in the previous decade. Chicago had hosted the World's Columbian Exposition in 1893, a massive international event which had excited interest in the themes of classical architecture and well-designed city landscapes. Chicago also had extensive discussions in 1909 about the potential for designing large parts of the city, the Burnham Plan of Chicago . The resulting skyscrapers reflected these debates:

6235-442: The 10th through 17th floors each had 18,500 square feet (1,720 m); and the 18th through 25th floors each had 19,500 square feet (1,810 m). However, the 27th through 31st floors, located in the smaller "capital" of the building, typically had 5,200 square feet (480 m). On the top of the building was a luncheon club. The entrance arch on Broadway led to a limestone vestibule about 30 feet (9.1 m) deep, which contained

6380-644: The 1830s and spread to U.S. factories and hotels by the 1840s. Elevators using hoist ropes, however, could only function effectively in low-rise buildings, and this limitation encouraged the introduction of the hydraulic elevator in 1870, even though early models contained dangerous design flaws. By 1876 these problems had been resolved, providing a solution for servicing the early skyscrapers. New environmental technologies in heating, lighting, ventilation and sanitation were also critical to creating taller buildings that were attractive to work in. Central heating could not be easily extended to serve larger buildings; in

6525-424: The 1850s, a system using low-pressure steam and steam-operated fans became adopted in the construction of the later skyscrapers. Many U.S. buildings were lit by gas , but this carried safety risks and was difficult to install in taller buildings. As an alternative, electric lights were installed from 1878 onwards, powered by basement generators. Ventilation was also a challenge, as smoke drifting into offices from

6670-581: The 1880s, bringing these ideals and standards with them. Applying contemporary Beaux-Arts standards to early skyscrapers, however, was not straightforward. The buildings that the Beaux-Arts movement influenced were typically much shorter and broader than any skyscraper, as it was difficult to accurately reproduce the style in a tall, narrow building. Skyscrapers were also primarily commercial buildings, and economics as well as aesthetics had to play an important part in their design. The architectural writer Barr Ferree noted in 1893 that "current American architecture

6815-489: The 1890s, with female employees becoming more common. The percentage of female clerical workers in Chicago, for example, increased from 11 percent in 1880 to 21 percent by 1890, reaching 30 percent by 1900. Various moral concerns were raised about men and women mixing in such offices, which were characterized as being masculine spaces, full of tobacco smoke and profanity and therefore unsuitable for women. The new female workers typically worked as typists or stenographers , using

6960-400: The 25th floor. The other walls varied in thickness from 32 inches at the base to 20 inches (510 mm) below the 25th floor. There were also two walls carried atop the third-floor girders, which extended to the 27th and 32nd floors. The foundation was excavated using rectangular caissons of varying width. The pits were drilled through layers of earth, quicksand, clay, gravel, and water to

7105-471: The 26th. A separate elevator served the 25th through 32nd stories. Two staircases ran between the basement and 25th floor, with another staircase running to the 32nd floor. The City Investing Building was developed by Robert E. Dowling, who in the first decade of the 20th century was also developing the Trinity and United States Realty Buildings nearby. Dowling was the president of the City Investing Company,

7250-464: The 612-foot (187 m) tall Singer Tower , the 700-foot (210 m) Metropolitan Life Insurance Company Tower , and the 792-foot (241 m) Woolworth Building . Though these skyscrapers were commercial successes, criticism mounted as they broke up the ordered city skyline and plunged neighboring streets and buildings into perpetual shadow. Combined with an economic downturn, this led to the introduction of zoning restraints in New York in 1916. In

7395-570: The American architectural profession. The construction of the Woolworth Building was announced in 1910 by Frank Woolworth , who wanted to create the largest income-producing property in the U.S. The project grew, and Woolworth finally opted for a 55-story, 792-foot (241 m) high skyscraper, the latest tallest building in the world, at a cost of $ 13.5 million ($ 5.1 billion in 2010 terms). Architect Cass Gilbert designs included

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7540-448: The Broadway sidewalk, and contained the building's boiler room. The boiler plant was capable of an output of 2,000 horsepower (1,500 kW). The building also had a water system that could filter 864,000 U.S. gallons (3,270,000 L; 719,000 imp gal) per day and its plumbing system could pump out five times as much. There were two water tanks: one had a capacity of 12,500 U.S. gallons (47,000 L; 10,400 imp gal) and

7685-478: The Chicago Board of Trade spent 20 percent of its rental revenue on service staff, employing 41 people, including janitors, elevator operators, engineers, and an electrician. With this collection of services and facilities, skyscrapers of the period were often referred to as small cities in their own right. Opposition to Chicago's skyscrapers began to grow during the late 1880s and early 1890s. Even before

7830-471: The City Investing Building was regarded as a "monument to greed" with its sheer size. Photographs of the building almost always showed its northern side on Cortlandt Street because its primary elevation to the east along Broadway was excessively narrow. Architect Donn Barber described the facade as "somewhat showy both in design and material" and regarded the lobby as "the finest piece of commercial designing and execution that we have yet seen downtown." Kimball,

7975-521: The Masons' private suites and meeting halls, some able to hold up to 1,300 people. At the top was a roof garden and observation gallery. The Freemasons were competing with their local rivals the Odd Fellows , who intended to build a much higher skyscraper, 556 feet (169 m) tall, that they announced would be the tallest building in the world. Newspapers picked up the story, circulating facts about

8120-690: The Netherlands. The architects of early skyscrapers faced a number of challenges. The most fashionable architectural style in the late 19th century was the French Beaux-Arts movement, sometimes termed the Italian Renaissance style, which applied Classical aesthetic principles to modern buildings. American architects trained in the Beaux-Arts style at the Parisian Académie des Beaux-Arts began to return home in

8265-573: The Peoples Gas Building using texture and the Railway Exchange Building's white terracotta, for example. The process of building skyscrapers became more sophisticated, starting with the acquisition of the real estate needed for the site. Brokers working on commission would secretly acquire the individual lots of land required for a project, operating under a variety of names to avoid having the price increase once

8410-791: The Singer Building, Hudson Terminal , and the Equitable Building , was a frequently photographed skyscraper in Lower Manhattan. The completion of the Equitable Building to the southeast in 1915 placed the City Investing Building into permanent shadow up to the 24th floor. The situation led to New York City's 1916 Zoning Resolution , which required buildings to be set back above a certain height. According to architectural journalist Christopher Gray and architectural historians Sarah Landau and Carl Condit ,

8555-482: The Singer Tower addition to the Singer Building, which was built nearly simultaneously with the City Investing Building. The narrowness of the gap was a result of a design choice by the Singer's architect, Ernest Flagg . The columns required to support the Singer Tower would have been too large to place atop the original Singer Building, at the south end of the same block near Liberty Street . The City Investing Building

8700-400: The Singer Tower to the south, which was simultaneously being erected as the world's tallest building—but this modification did not happen. Demolition of buildings on the City Investing Building's site proceeded through 1906. The Coal and Iron Exchange Building took five months to destroy, because of the extremely thick materials it used; it was demolished by October 1906, although its cornerstone

8845-503: The Wall Street Crash and defaulted on its mortgages in the years afterward. The Benenson Building and the company's other structures, including the adjacent 99 Liberty Street, were placed for sale in October 1931 as part of foreclosure proceedings against the company. The building at the time was assessed as being worth $ 10.4 million. Charles F. Noyes acquired the Benenson Building and several of Benenson's other properties

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8990-636: The Woolworth Building had around 600 different tenants in 1913, for example; a typical tenant might rent four or five office units in a skyscraper. Skyscrapers, particularly those in New York, attracted considerable comment, much of it negative. On his return to New York, writer Henry James condemned the buildings in The American Scene as simply "giants of the mere market", "mercenary monsters" doomed to be torn down in turn as other, even larger, buildings took their place. In Chicago

9135-553: The adjacent Singer Building were razed in 1968 to make room for One Liberty Plaza , which had at least twice as much floor area as the two former buildings combined. The City Investing Building was in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan , with frontage on Church Street to the west, Cortlandt Street to the north, and Broadway to the east. The City Investing Building had a frontage of 209 feet (64 m) on Cortlandt Street, 109 feet (33 m) on Church Street and Trinity Place, and 37.5 feet (11.4 m) on Broadway. It had

9280-450: The attic. The Real Estate Record and Guide described the building as rising 33 stories, as counted from Church Street, but excluding the attic. Yet another source gave the height as 480 feet (150 m) with 34 stories, including the attic. The City Investing Building was largely shaped in an "F", with the two northward "prongs" of the "F" flanking a 40-by-65-foot (12 by 20 m) light court on Cortlandt Street. The light court rose above

9425-534: The building loads and counteracted the upward hydrostatic pressure. The City Investing Building was one of New York City's largest office buildings at the time of its completion, with an estimated 12 acres (49,000 m; 520,000 sq ft) of floor area. Generally, there was more space on higher stories than on lower stories, largely because the building's elevators were staggered into three banks serving different sets of floors. The 5th through 9th floors typically had 17,600 square feet (1,640 m) per floor;

9570-484: The building was many miles of plumbing, steam piping, wood base, picture molding, conduits, and electrical wiring. The building contained woodwork made of fireproofed mahogany. The superstructure consisted of a steel cage wherein the columns at every story supported the walls. The columns, in turn, sat on cast-steel pedestals, which transmitted their loads through girders and grillages . There were 89 columns on each floor, arranged in six rows. The largest column carried

9715-631: The building's architect, characterized the light-toned exterior as contrasting with the "darker and more somber" appearance of nearby buildings. Early skyscrapers Chicago initially led the way in skyscraper design, with many constructed in the center of its financial district during the late 1880s and early 1890s. Sometimes termed the products of the Chicago school of architecture , these skyscrapers attempted to balance aesthetic concerns with practical commercial design, producing large, square palazzo -styled buildings hosting shops and restaurants on

9860-545: The building's developer, hired Vincenzo Alfano to design sculptural groups for the facade. The 5th through 25th floors contained window bays , which generally contained two or three windows on each story. The corner bays on the "prongs" facing Cortlandt Street contained one window per floor. At various points on the facade, some of the center bays on each side contained groupings of several stories, each of which contained engaged columns and balconies. There were also horizontal belt courses between several stories. The 26th floor

10005-464: The buildings. Fast Otis elevators, powered by electricity rather than steam-driven hydraulics, began to be installed in skyscrapers, with Ellithorpe safety air cushions protecting the passengers in the case of failure. Lighting improved, with the recommended levels in 1916 being around twice the level of the 1890s. Nonetheless, skyscrapers still relied primarily on natural sunlight, which required installing large windows and having tall ceilings to allow

10150-418: The caissons were filled with concrete. The retaining walls of the foundation were then constructed of concrete slabs between I-beams spaced 5 feet (1.5 m) apart. The excavation involved removing 4,500 cubic yards (3,400 m) of masonry and 11,000 cubic yards (8,400 m) of earth, while the foundation piers used 11,000 cubic yards (8,400 m) of concrete. Sections of the masonry basement floors from

10295-476: The center of the financial district. Chicago's skyscrapers, however, were constrained by the contemporary limits of steel-frame design and the muddy sub-soil in the city, which together limited most of its skyscrapers to around 16 or 17 stories. Chicago's skyscrapers rapidly became tourist destinations for the views of the wider city they provided from their upper floors and as attractive sites in their own right. Tourists were advised to hire cabs for street tours of

10440-473: The combination of the environmental pollution and skyscrapers meant that, as Charles Warner complained, "one can scarcely see across the streets on a damp day, and the huge buildings loom up in the black sky in ghostly dimness". Wider artistic sentiments varied. Many, like Alfred Stieglitz , harboured mixed feelings over New York's skyscrapers, reflected in his famous 1903 portrait of the Flatiron Building , and his 1910 work Old and New New York that contrasts

10585-776: The company is headquartered in Coraopolis, Pennsylvania , a suburb of Pittsburgh . The firm has built many bridges in the U.S. and elsewhere; the Historic American Engineering Record notes at least 81. American Bridge has also built or helped build the Willis Tower , the Empire State Building , the Chrysler Building , launch pads, resorts, and more. During World War II , it produced tank landing ships (LSTs) for

10730-639: The construction of the American Surety Building , a twenty-story, 303-foot (92 m) high-steel development that broke Chicago's height record. From then on, New York thoroughly embraced skeleton frame construction. In particular, New York newspaper companies adopted the skyscraper, building several along Park Row , sometimes termed "Newspaper Row", in the 1880s and 1890s. A few early skyscrapers were also constructed in Baltimore, Boston, Pittsburgh, St. Louis, Rochester, and Buffalo, such as

10875-460: The decade before World War I . The city's elevated train network was operating by 1910, allowing more workers to come into downtown. In 1910 alone 1,500,000 square feet (140,000 m ) of new offices were opened and by the end of the decade, Chicago had the second largest number of headquarters offices in the U.S. Chicago architectural firms such as Daniel H. Burnham and then Graham, Anderson, Probst & White continued to design skyscrapers in

11020-508: The deep bedrock on the site required particularly deep foundations. The tower was faced in dark brick and followed the Beaux-Arts style used by the rest of the complex, with a galleried lobby fitted out in Italian marble. When it opened in 1908, it had 41 stories and was 612 feet (187 m) tall; visitors paid $ 0.50 ($ 14 in 2020 terms) each to use the observation area at the top of the building. The Metropolitan Life Insurance Company Tower

11165-494: The development of the skyscraper, some criticized large buildings in Chicago for dominating churches and private houses, and this sentiment strengthened. Critics complained that the concentration of tall buildings in the center of the city was causing huge congestion, and each new skyscraper was also burning additional coal to power its facilities, together consuming a total of over one million tons each year, leaving smoke and stagnant air hanging over Chicago. Many were concerned over

11310-465: The early 19th century, and major breakthroughs came with the work of architect Peter Wight in the 1860s. Spurred on by the catastrophic fires in Chicago in 1871 and Boston in 1872 , his findings were turned into a wide variety of patented fireproofing products during the 1870s. Taller, heavier buildings such as skyscrapers also required stronger foundations than smaller buildings. Earlier buildings had typically rested their foundations on rubble, which

11455-431: The electric elevators were made by Otis Elevator . The elevators were placed in three banks the south side of the building, along the section facing the Singer Tower. Seven elevators served all the floors from the lobby to the 9th story; another seven ran express from the lobby to the 9th story, then served all floors through the 17th; and the final seven ran express from the lobby to the 17th story, then served all floors to

11600-408: The entire 37-foot (11 m) width of that wing. Portal braces and curved knee braces were included to provide wind resistance, but also contributed to the building's weight. The exterior walls were curtain walls whose thicknesses had been prescribed by city building codes of the time. The south wall was generally 32 inches (810 mm) thick at the base, tapering to 12 feet (3.7 m) just below

11745-569: The entire block to erect a new 54-story headquarters on the same site. Although preservationists attempted to get the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission to protect the Singer Building, the City Investing Building received relatively little notice. Demolition of both buildings was underway by 1968. The U.S. Steel Building (later known as One Liberty Plaza ) was built on the site, being completed in 1973. One Liberty Plaza had at least twice

11890-595: The facade was richly textured and incorporated stylistic features more common in Chicago. A critical and popular success, the Flatiron was likened to the Parthenon of Ancient Greece and became a New York icon. The construction of the Singer Tower was announced by the company in 1906, who intended to produce the tallest skyscraper in the world. The company already had several low-rise buildings in New York that

12035-459: The first decade of the 20th century. The demand for new office space to hold the expanding workforce of white-collar staff in the U.S. continued to grow. Engineering developments made it easier to build and live in yet taller buildings. Chicago built new skyscrapers in its existing style, while New York experimented further with tower design. Iconic buildings such as the Flatiron were followed by

12180-481: The first skyscraper because of its innovative use of structural steel in a metal frame design. The Home Insurance Building was a 138-foot (42 m) tall, 10-story skyscraper designed by William Le Baron Jenney , who had been trained as an engineer in France and was a leading architect in Chicago. Jenney's design was unusual in that it incorporated structural steel into the building's internal metal frame alongside

12325-565: The first steel bridge over the Mississippi River and still in use. In 1902, the company became a subsidiary of United States Steel as part of the Steel Trust consolidation. The company pioneered the use of steel as a construction material; developing the means and methods for fabrication and construction that allowed it to be widely used in buildings, bridges, vessels, and other plate applications. It went on to do work across

12470-410: The foundation, while the piers were sunk into the ground under their own weight. Because of the lack of space in the area, the contractors' offices were housed beneath the temporary platforms. During the process of excavation, the Gilsey Building's foundations were underpinned or shored up, because that building had relatively shallow foundations descending only 18 feet (5.5 m) below Broadway. After

12615-504: The foundations were complete. The deeper the foundations needed to be, the greater the challenge. Special water-tight boxes called caissons were invented to deal with this problem in England in 1830 and adopted in the U.S. during the 1850s and 1860s. The development of the elevator was also essential to the emergence of the early skyscrapers, as office buildings taller than around six stories would have been impractical without them. Powered elevators were first installed in England during

12760-409: The foundations were completed, a light wooden falsework was erected on the Broadway wing to support the traveler , which contained two derricks to erect the massive girders in that section. The traveler was moved deeper into the lot as the girders were erected. The girders were erected quickly at night, with 16 girders and 20 columns being erected in a week. A worker was killed during construction when

12905-418: The frantic building of the previous few years, meant that Chicago suddenly had a significant surplus of office space, threatening occupancy levels and rents. Regulation was introduced by the city council to control the problem in 1892, with support from the real estate industry who hoped to slow the construction of additional office space and shore up their diminishing profit margins. The height of new buildings

13050-512: The front of prominent magazines such as Scientific American , as well as on the sides of corn flake boxes, coffee packets, and cars. The tower was loosely modeled on the Venetian St Mark's Campanile , and featured extensive Early Renaissance-style detailing, with the more modern additions of huge clock faces, electric floodlights for night-time illumination, and an observation deck at the top. The design won critical acclaim within

13195-420: The ground level and containing rentable offices on the upper floors. In contrast, New York's skyscrapers were frequently narrower towers which, more eclectic in style, were often criticized for their lack of elegance. In 1892, Chicago banned the construction of new skyscrapers taller than 150 feet (46 m), leaving the development of taller buildings to New York. A new wave of skyscraper construction emerged in

13340-479: The growing steel frame of the emerging Vanderbilt Hotel with the old low-rise blocks of the street below. Poets also wrote about the issues, the early Modernist Sadakichi Hartmann describing how "from the city's stir and madd'ning roar" the Flatiron's "monstrous shape soars in massive flight". Artists such as Alvin Coburn and John Marin experimented with producing portraits of New York's skyscrapers, capturing

13485-440: The height of buildings, but in practice low-rise buildings were the norm, at least until 1865, with the tallest buildings being the city's churches. New York's population tripled between 1840 and 1870, and property values soared, increasing by more than 90 percent between 1860 and 1875. Further west, the city of Chicago became the other major site in the development of early skyscrapers. In contrast to New York, Chicago emerged as

13630-431: The income from a property. Chicago skyscraper windows were also a feature of the style; these were large, fixed windows flanked by smaller sash windows on either side, which provided access to sunlight and adequate ventilation. Sometimes these protruded from the building to form a slight bay. Although the exterior of the Chicago skyscrapers buildings were relatively plain, the entrance ways and lobbies were fitted out in

13775-448: The main doors. Inside the vestibule was a double-height lobby running westward to the elevated Cortlandt Street station of the Interborough Rapid Transit Company 's Sixth Avenue Line at Church Street. It measured 40 feet (12 m) tall and 32 feet (9.8 m) wide. The arched ceiling of the lobby was decorated with colorful frescoes. The lobby was clad throughout with several types of Italian marbles. Three elevator banks extended from

13920-557: The main windows, making it most efficient to build skyscrapers with as much premium office space as possible, even if this cost slightly more to construct in the first instance. As a result, a standard pattern for office units in both New York and Chicago emerged, with either a single rectangular office adjoining an exterior wall, or a T-shaped design, with a reception room giving way to two windowed offices, separated by glass partitions. Skyscrapers usually took on large numbers of relatively small companies as their tenants. A skyscraper such as

14065-461: The name "Ambridge"), and is near their current headquarters of Coraopolis, Pennsylvania . Both municipalities are on the Ohio River near Pittsburgh, with access to many steel suppliers, as well as to waterborne and rail transport, to allow shipment of components and subassemblies. This is a representative list, not an exhaustive one. Built the longest concrete segmental cable stay bridge in

14210-492: The nation and around the world. During World War II, the company built warships for the U.S. Navy. In 1944, American painter Thomas Hart Benton recorded the construction and launch of LST 768, producing numerous drawings and a painting, Cut the Line . The company went private in 1987 and was sold to Continental Engineering Corporation in 1988. The town of Ambridge, Pennsylvania , was an American Bridge company town (thus

14355-516: The next month. By 1936, there were plans to renovate the Benenson Building, with the project being funded through rental income. The Benenson Building and another adjacent structure were auctioned again in 1938 to satisfy the liens against the properties. The New York Trust Company acquired the Benenson Building for $ 5 million, and the building was renamed 165 Broadway. The building was renovated in 1941 for $ 300,000. The entrances, elevators, and corridors were renovated, and new fluorescent lighting

14500-509: The old financial buildings, and in their place a wide variety of new buildings were erected and demolished in quick succession during the 1840s and 1850s; traveler Philip Hone suggested that the entire city was being rebuilt every decade. Most buildings adopted the Italian Renaissance inspired palazzo -style of architecture popular in England, and rose no more than five or six stories. New York did not have any restrictions on

14645-464: The outside of skyscrapers at the ground level and simpler, plainer ornamentation on the upper levels, with strong vertical lines. The roofs of their skyscrapers typically formed a comprehensible outline and structure when seen at a distance as part of the city skyline. The intent was to draw the observer's eye upwards, celebrating what Sullivan termed the "lofty" nature of the skyscraper, but not wasting resources on intricate detailing unlikely to appeal to

14790-508: The positive and negative aspects of the modern structures. In 1908 artist Harry Pettit produced a romantic interpretation of a future New York, filled with giant skyscrapers supporting aerial bridges and receiving dirigibles from around the globe. Amongst the architectural community, the Exposition in Chicago inspired many Americans to champion planning cities that had a unified design, in which each building had unique features but elegantly complemented its neighbours, typically by being built to

14935-471: The previous buildings on the site were also removed in the process. Within the foundation were placed 59 concrete piers, which carried the columns of the aboveground superstructure. The cross-sections of the piers varied, with the smallest measuring 6 by 6 feet (1.8 by 1.8 m), and the largest measuring 8.5 by 37.33 feet (2.6 by 11.4 m). The caissons supported foundation piers that were topped by plates with grillages of transversely laid I-beams. Most of

15080-495: The processes for erecting skyscrapers, largely through the work of general contractors such as Louis Horowitz and Frank Gilbreth , who in turn drew on recent work by efficiency specialist Frederick Taylor . Time schedules were devised for all the work to be undertaken, with costs carefully monitored and reports produced each day. The results were demonstrated on the Woolworth Building construction project, where 1,153 tonnes (1,153,000 kg) of steel were assembled in only six days,

15225-413: The recently invented typewriter , which grew in number in U.S. offices from 146 in 1879 to 65,000 by 1890. Skyscrapers provided a wide range of in-house services for their tenants, including shops, restaurants, barbers, tobacconists, newsagents, tailors, professional specialists and libraries. Skyscrapers also employed a substantial number of service staff to maintain and support them; a building such as

15370-427: The recovery was well underway, with new construction in New York returning to the pace of 1871, and the economic upturn making the construction of taller buildings an attractive financial option again, establishing many of the preconditions for the development of the skyscraper. The emergence of skyscrapers was made possible by technological improvements during the middle of the 19th century. One of these developments

15515-544: The relatively small plots of land in New York. Some New York skyscrapers emulated the tripartite style of Chicago, but others broke their exterior down into many different layers, each with its own style. Proponents argued that this reintroduced a sense of human proportion to these tall buildings; critics felt that the results were confusing and ungainly. Early skyscrapers were mainly made up of small office cubicles, commonly only 12 feet (3.7 m) across, which were placed adjacent to one another along long corridors, following

15660-529: The risk of a major fire breaking out and spreading, uncontrolled, from building to building. Chicago was not alone in having concerns over the growth of the skyscraper. In Boston, the Fiske and the Ames Buildings were built in the late 1880s, 183 ft (56 m) and 190 feet (58 m) tall respectively, but protests by local civic campaigners and the real estate industry resulted in the city passing

15805-435: The roles of architect and engineer, but this broke down in Chicago during the period, being replaced by a partnership between specialist architects who focused on the appearance of the skyscraper, and specialist engineers who focused on the structures that enabled it to be built. Chicago architectural firms grew to be large, hierarchical and with numerous specialist staff; the D. H. Burnham & Company , for example, felt like

15950-524: The second story on the Cortlandt Street elevation . A wing ran eastward to Broadway, between the Gilsey and Singer buildings. The bulk of the building, comprising the base and shaft, consisted of 25 occupiable stories above Broadway, plus a 26th story in the cornice. The "prongs" on Cortlandt Street were designed as narrow towers terminating at the 26th story. Above the Broadway wing, the 26th story

16095-407: The shaft and capital were decorated with white brick and terracotta. Porcelain and enamel brick were used to reduce cleaning costs, since that type of brick did not discolor over time. The main entrance was at Broadway and contained a semicircular-headed opening. The fourth floor was topped by a large cornice that was at the same level as the roof of the six-story Gilsey Building. Robert E. Dowling ,

16240-632: The size of the Temple and making comparison to historical buildings such as the Capitol or the Statue of Liberty . The Odd Fellows project failed, but the Masonic Temple capitalized on the publicity, being declared the "tallest commercial building in the world". In comparison, New York trailed behind Chicago, having only four buildings over 16 stories tall by 1893. Part of the delay was caused by

16385-437: The skyscraper impinged on the rights of the rest of the city by destroying the collective appearance of an urban area. Some architects, such as Charles McKim and Stanford White refused to work on such projects altogether. American Bridge Company The American Bridge Company is a heavy/civil construction firm that specializes in building and renovating bridges and other large, complex structures. Founded in 1900,

16530-474: The skyscrapers – by lying back in the cab, they would be able to safely take in the tops of the tall buildings. The Masonic Temple was the most prominent of these skyscrapers. Built by the Freemasons of Chicago in 1892, at a time when the Masons was a fast-growing social community, the lavish 302-foot (92 m) tall skyscraper had 19 stories, the bottom ten holding shops and the higher levels containing

16675-475: The slowness of the city authorities to authorize metal-frame construction techniques; it was not until 1889 that they relented and allowed Bradford Gilbert to construct the Tower Building , an 11-story iron-framed skyscraper. This encouraged the building of more skyscrapers in New York, although the city remained cautious about the technology for some years. Finally, in 1895 a breakthrough was made with

16820-417: The southern wall of the lobby. The second floor contained offices north of the lobby, and a footbridge was placed across the lobby to connect the elevators and offices. The upper floors typically had a west–east elevator hallway along the southern wall, with the other areas being used for rental space. Generally, the ceiling heights of the lower stories were higher than on the upper stories. The first story had

16965-495: The standards of the day, these offices were very modern, with radiators, air vents, and the latest fixtures and fittings, and modern communication systems, including telephone and pneumatic tubes were often installed. As a result, many businesses chose to move out of their older, low-rise offices in Chicago to take up tenancy in the new skyscrapers, which were felt to be more convenient and healthier. The first skyscrapers were mainly occupied by male workers, but this changed during

17110-412: The streets and the fumes from the gas lighting made air quality a major health issue. A steam-driven, forced-draft ventilation system was invented in 1860 and became widely used in taller buildings by the 1870s, overcoming much of the problem. Improvements in iron piping permitted running hot and cold water and sanitation facilities to be installed throughout taller buildings for the first time. There

17255-537: The structural frame underneath and incorporating 15th and 16th century Flamboyant Gothic -styled features. It was capped by a gilded tower that blended into the sky behind it to produce an illusion of even greater height. The building was illuminated with floodlights at night, topped with red and white flashing lights. It was famously dubbed the "Cathedral of Commerce", rather to Gilbert's displeasure as he had attempted to avoid copying ecclesiastical architecture. Meanwhile, Chicago's skyscraper industry also boomed during

17400-424: The sunlight to penetrate the back of the offices; an office deeper than 28 feet (8.5 m) was not considered a practical design. One of the reasons for the increase in the numbers of skyscrapers during this period was the growth in demand for office workers. In part this demand was fuelled by many U.S. firms becoming larger and more complex, and white-collar sectors such as insurance and banking grew in scale. It

17545-450: The superstructure's exterior columns were supported on cantilevers; deep plate girders were placed over the grillages, and the cantilevers extended outward from these girders, where they supported the columns. The foundation also used distributing girders, some of which were triple girders weighing 90 short tons (80 long tons; 82 t). The cellar floor was poured as a single layer of concrete, 6 feet (1.8 m) thick. This helped distribute

17690-476: The tenants, such surroundings were good for their own business credibility and affirmed their own social status as professionals. New York faced similar architectural challenges, but in comparison to Chicago, skyscraper architects worked less closely with engineers and other specialists, and instead held strong backgrounds in the Beaux Arts movement and perceived their role to be primarily artistic rather than

17835-429: The time. Though developed by the City Investing Company, the structure had multiple owners throughout its existence. The City Investing Building was sold to the financier Grigori Benenson (1860–1939) in 1919 and renamed the Benenson Building. After Benenson was unable to pay the mortgage, it was sold twice in the 1930s. The building was renamed 165 Broadway by 1938 and was renovated in 1941. The City Investing Building and

17980-655: The title to the building in July 1920. He received a $ 9.5 million mortgage loan for the building in 1926. During the 1920s, the Benenson Building gained tenants such as the Chemical Bank and advertising agency Albert Frank & Company. Benenson also brought adjacent property to the north, intending to construct a supertall skyscraper on the site, but these plans were canceled due to the Wall Street Crash of 1929 . Benenson's company suffered financially from

18125-441: The tower would be incorporated into and planned to rent out the bottom half of the tower to tenants to subsidize their use of the upper half. The skyscraper was designed by Ernest Flagg , a Beaux-Arts advocate and noted critic of existing skyscrapers, who justified taking on the project as a way of generating support for skyscraper reform. The design was technically challenging: the tall, narrow tower needed special wind bracing, and

18270-438: The traditional wrought iron. This frame took the weight of the floors of the building and helped to support the weight of the external walls as well, proving an important step towards creating the genuine non-structural curtain walls that became a feature of later skyscrapers. The design was not perfect – some of the weight was still carried by masonry walls, and the metal frame was bolted, rather than riveted , together – but it

18415-527: The two former buildings' combined interior area. One Liberty Plaza contained 37,000 square feet (3,400 m) per floor, compared with the 5,200 to 19,500 square feet (480 to 1,810 m) per floor in the City Investing Building. At the time of its destruction, the City Investing Building was the third-tallest building ever demolished , behind the Morrison Hotel and the Singer Building. The City Investing Building, along with other nearby sites such as

18560-572: The use of an iron-framed skeleton , further differentiated skyscrapers from earlier tall secular buildings, such as those in the Old Town of Edinburgh . Development of these skyscrapers was concentrated in the American cities of New York and Chicago , but was not entirely exclusive to them; precursors of the form exist in Europe, especially the United Kingdom. The Ditherington Flax Mill

18705-515: Was adorned in such styles as Italianate, Classical Revival, and English Gothic. Such blocks, which were very flexible in their use, had already been prolific before the fire, and early post-fire reconstruction differed from the old styles downtown only in scale. The construction of taller buildings during the 1870s was hindered by the financial Panic of 1873 and the ensuing economic depression, which lasted until around 1879. Construction slowed, and property values slumped. By 1880, however,

18850-495: Was also driven by changing technology. The typewriter was joined in the office by the adding machine , the telephone and filing cabinets, all adding to the demand for office space and requiring increasingly specialised workers. Tenants and rental income were essential to the financial success of any skyscraper, as even the largest skyscrapers and those founded by prominent companies rented out much of their office space. Owners could charge significantly more for office space close to

18995-458: Was built in Shropshire in 1797 as the world's first iron-framed building, and as such has been referred to as "the father of the skyscraper." Early skyscrapers emerged in the United States as a result of economic growth, the financial organization of American businesses, and the intensive use of land. New York City was one of the centers of early skyscraper construction and had a history as

19140-535: Was clearly a significant advance in tall building construction. The approach quickly caught on in Chicago. In 1889 the Tacoma Building replaced the bolted metal design with a stronger riveted approach, and Chicago's Chamber of Commerce Building introduced interior light courts to the structural design of skyscrapers. The 1890 Rand McNally Building became the first entirely self-supporting, steel-framed skyscraper. Some buildings, such as The Rookery and

19285-411: Was designed by Francis H. Kimball . The general contract was awarded to the Hedden Construction Company and the contract for the foundation work was given to the O'Rourke Engineering and Contracting Company. In addition, Weiskopf and Stern were consultants for the steel frame, Griggs and Holbrook were consultants for steam and electricity, and William C. Tucker was consulting sanitary engineer. The steel

19430-545: Was extensively described in engineering journals and was initially used to build warehouses. Using these metal frames for taller buildings, however, meant exposing them to increased wind pressure . As a consequence, protective wind bracing had to be introduced, enabled by the work of Augustin-Jean Fresnel who produced equations for calculating the loads and moments on larger buildings. Metal-framed buildings were also vulnerable to fire and required special fireproofing . French engineers had made advances in this area in

19575-427: Was in turn laid down on the soft top layer of the ground called the overburden . As buildings became taller and heavier, the overburden could not support their weight, and foundations increasingly needed to rest directly on the bedrock below. In both New York and Chicago this required digging down a considerable distance through soft soil and often below the water table , risking the hole filling up with water before

19720-727: Was inside the cornice. The City Investing Building used a steel frame with concrete-slab floors, terracotta floor arches and partitions, and interior marble work. When completed, the building was said to weigh 86,000 short tons (77,000 long tons), excluding live loads. The steel frame alone weighed 12,000 short tons (11,000 long tons; 11,000 t). As completed, the building used 9.1 million bricks, 25,000 lighting fixtures, 3,000 short tons (2,700 long tons; 2,700 t) of terracotta, about 2,600,000 square feet (240,000 m) of plaster, about 1,870,000 square feet (174,000 m) of hollow tile, 8,170,000 pounds (3,710,000 kg) of marble, and about 21.8 million mosaic cubes. Also included in

19865-463: Was installed. At the time, the Chemical Bank occupied the first six floors of both 165 Broadway and the Gilsey Building. 165 Broadway, the Gilsey Building, and 99 Liberty Street were sold in 1947 to N. K. Winston and George Gregory for $ 11 million. In 1964, United States Steel acquired the City Investing Building, along with the neighboring Singer Building. U.S. Steel planned to demolish

20010-434: Was limited to 150 feet (46 m), with lower height levels on narrower streets, effectively curtailing the construction of any taller skyscrapers. The early years of the 20th century saw a range of technically sophisticated, architecturally confident skyscrapers built in New York; academics Sarah Landau and Carl Condit term this "the first great age" of skyscraper building. Some were relatively conservative buildings in

20155-579: Was made by the American Bridge Company and erected by Post and McCord. The stonework came from William Bradley & Sons; the ornamental ironwork from Hecla Iron Works ; the terracotta and other tilework from the National Fireproofing Company; the plumbing from Wells and Newton; and the marble work from J. H. Shipway and Bros. The City Investing Building's facade was divided into three horizontal sections:

20300-459: Was not retrieved until June 1907. Excavation of the foundations began in November 1906, with an average of 275 workers during the day shift and 100 workers during the night shift. The excavation was required to be completed in 120 days. To remove the spoils from the foundation, three temporary wooden platforms were constructed to street level. Hoisting engines were installed to place the beams for

20445-408: Was opened in 1909, the culmination of a long building project by N. LeBrun and Sons to hold Metropolitan Life's growing headquarters staff, 2,800 strong by 1909. At 700 feet (210 m) high and with 50 stories, it became the world's new tallest building. Metropolitan Life intended the skyscraper to promote the company's image, and the building was surrounded by publicity. The tower was featured on

20590-410: Was surpassed in the Middle Ages. The term "skyscraper" was first used in the 1780s to describe a particularly tall horse, before later being applied to, among other things, the sail at the top of a ship's mast , tall hats and bonnets, tall men, and a ball that was hit high into the air. In the 1880s it began to be applied to buildings, first in 1883 to describe large public monuments and then in 1889 as

20735-459: Was the iron framed building. Masonry buildings supported their internal floors through their walls, but the taller the building, the thicker the walls had to become, particularly at the base. In the 1860s, French engineers experimented with using built-up plate girders made of wrought iron to construct buildings supported by internal metal frames. These frames were stronger than traditional masonry and permitted much thinner walls. The methodology

20880-418: Was topped by a series of engaged columns with a belvedere at the center. A flat roof rose above much of the 26th story. The central section of the building, recessed from the light court on Cortlandt Street, rose six additional stories into the capital, with an ornate gable roof made of copper. A smaller gable rose to the 31st floor directly to the east. The five-story base was clad with light stone, while

21025-492: Was used for fire protection, while the other had a capacity of 9,000 U.S. gallons (34,000 L; 7,500 imp gal) and served the clients. Also in the building was an electric light plant. The building contained 24 elevators in total. From the lobby, there were 21 plunger elevators for passengers and 2 electric elevators for freight. The plunger elevators were made by the Standard Plunger Company and

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