Irving Trust was an American commercial bank headquartered in New York City that operated between 1851 and 1988 when it was acquired by Bank of New York . From 1965, the bank was the principal subsidiary of the Irving Bank Corporation.
108-662: Between 1913 and 1931, its headquarters was in the Woolworth Building ; after 1931, until it was acquired by Bank of New York, its headquarters was located at 1 Wall Street , at what is now known as the BNY Mellon Building. The bank had its origins in 1851, when the Irving Bank of the City of New York was founded. Since there was not yet a federal currency, each bank issued its own paper for use. The firm
216-504: A New York Times article two days later, Woolworth said that his building would rise 750 feet (230 m) to its tip. These plans called for a 30-story base and 25-story square tower above it. The 750-foot height was the absolute minimum that Woolworth would agree to, but Gilbert increased the height tp 792-foot (241 m) so the architectural proportions would fit. Renderings by illustrator Hughson Hawley , completed in April 1911, are
324-422: A revolving door and a Tudor window; it is flanked by standard doors and framed with decorations. There is a pelican above this smaller arch. Decorated revolving doors are also located at the northern and southern entrances, at Park Place and Barclay Street respectively. The Park Place and Barclay Street entrances are nearly identical, except for the arrangement of the storefronts. Both entrances are located on
432-499: A $ 250,000 contract to manufacture the terracotta. The next month, Donnelly and Ricci received the $ 11,500 contract for the terracotta work and some of the interior design work. Gilbert requested Atlantic Terra Cotta use an office next to his while they drew several hundred designs. The construction process involved hundreds of workers, and daily wages ranged from $ 1.50 for laborers (equivalent to $ 46 in 2023) to $ 4.50 for skilled workers (equivalent to $ 139 in 2023). By August 1911,
540-418: A 30-story base topped by a 30-story tower. Its facade is mostly clad with architectural terracotta , though the lower portions are limestone , and it features thousands of windows. The ornate lobby contains various sculptures, mosaics, and architectural touches. The structure was designed with several amenities and attractions, including a now-closed observatory on the 57th floor and a private swimming pool in
648-615: A 30-story building rising from the site. Because of the change in plans, the organization of the Broadway-Park Place Company was rearranged. Woolworth would be the major investor in the Broadway–Park Place Company, contributing $ 1 million, and the bank would contribute the other $ 500,000. The Irving Bank would take up a 25-year lease for the ground floor, fourth floor, and basement. By September 1910, Gilbert had designed an even taller structure, with
756-505: A 40-story tower on Park Place adjacent to a shorter 25-story annex, yielding a 550-foot (170 m)-tall building. The next month, Gilbert's design had evolved into a 45-story building roughly the height of the nearby Singer Building . This proposal called for a neo-Gothic structure with a 26-story base, topped by a square tower rising another 19 stories. After the latest design, Woolworth wrote to Gilbert in November 1910 and asked for
864-599: A 56-page brochure outlining the building's features. Schuyler later described the Woolworth Building as the "noblest offspring" of buildings erected with steel skeletons. On completion, the Woolworth Building topped the record set by the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company Tower as the world's tallest building, a distinction it held until 1929. Woolworth had purchased all of the Broadway-Park Place Company's shares from
972-444: A McComb descendant erased Mangin's name from the original drawings, but Mangin's name was added to the cornerstone of City Hall in 2003. The building was completed in 1812; it was designed in a Federal style with French influence. It was sited to be north of the heart of the city at the time. By the late 1810s, New York's cultural identity was growing, and in 1818, The Rotunda was built as New York City's first art museum. Slavery
1080-473: A comprehensive cleaning campaign of the Woolworth's facade to remove blackening caused by the city's soot and pollution. The Ehrenkrantz Group restored the building's facade between 1977 and 1981. During the renovation, much of the terracotta was replaced with concrete and Gothic ornament was removed. The building has several thousand windows: the exact number is disputed, but various sources state that
1188-409: A constantly rotating lamp at the apex of the Woolworth Building's roof. Ultimately, the builders decided to erect nitrogen lamps and reflectors above the 31st floor, and have the intensity of the lighting increase with height. In contrast to other parts of Manhattan, the bedrock beneath the site is relatively deep, descending to between 110 and 115 feet (34 and 35 m) on average. The site also has
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#17327825034691296-696: A grand dinner on the building's 27th floor for over 900 guests, and at exactly 7:30 p.m. EST , President Woodrow Wilson pushed a button in Washington, D.C. , to turn on the building's lights. Attendees included: Francis Hopkinson Smith , who served as toastmaster; author William Winter ; businessmen Patrick Francis Murphy and Charles M. Schwab ; Rhode Island Governor Aram J. Pothier ; Judge Thomas C. T. Crain ; US Senator from Arkansas Joseph Taylor Robinson ; Ecuadorian minister Gonzalo Córdova ; New York Supreme Court Justices Charles L. Guy and Edward Everett McCall ; Commissioner of Education of
1404-447: A high water table , which is as shallow as 15 feet (4.6 m) beneath ground level. Due to the geology of the area, the building is supported on either 66 or 69 massive caissons that descend to the bedrock. The caissons range in depth from 100 to 120 feet (30 to 37 m). To give the structure a sturdy foundation, the builders used metal tubes 19 feet (5.8 m) in diameter filled with concrete. These tubes were driven into
1512-445: A marble perimeter. The pool was later drained but was restored in the mid-2010s as part of the conversion of the Woolworth Building's upper floors into residential units. At the time of construction, the Woolworth Building had over 2,000 offices. Each office had ceilings ranging from 11 to 20 feet (3.4 to 6.1 m) high. Gilbert had designed the interior to maximize the amount of usable office space, and correspondingly, minimize
1620-462: A narrow interior court for light. The base occupies the entire lot between Park Place to the north, Broadway to the east, and Barclay Street to the south. The site measures 155 feet (47 m) wide on Broadway and 200 feet (61 m) wide on both Park Place and Barclay Street. The base contains two "wings" extending westward, one each on the Park Place and Barclay Street frontages, which form
1728-604: A phone call from Woolworth one day. The architect had recently finished designing the nearby Broadway–Chambers Building and 90 West Street , whose architecture Woolworth admired. Woolworth wanted his new structure to be of similar design to the Palace of Westminster in London, which was designed in the Gothic style. At the time, Gilbert was well known for constructing modern skyscrapers with historicizing design elements. Gilbert
1836-497: A portrait of himself. The Woolworth Building contains a system of high-speed elevators capable of traveling 650 feet (200 m) or 700 feet (210 m) per minute. The Otis Elevator Company supplied the units, which consisted of express elevators that ran nonstop between selected floors, as well as local elevators that stopped at every floor between a certain range. There were 26 Otis electric elevators with gearless traction, as well as an electric-drum shuttle elevator within
1944-519: A rough U-shape when combined with the Broadway frontage. This ensured that all offices had outside views. The U-shaped base is approximately 30 stories tall. All four elevations of the base are decorated, since the building has frontage on all sides. The tower rises an additional 30 stories above the eastern side of the base, abutting Broadway. Above the 30th floor are setbacks on the north and south elevations. There are additional setbacks along
2052-564: A special train from Washington, DC. Additional congratulations were sent via letter from former President William Howard Taft , Governor of New Jersey James Fairman Fielder and United States Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels . The building was declared ready for occupancy on May 1, 1913, and Woolworth began renting the offices at a minimum rate of $ 4 per square foot ($ 43/m ). To attract tenants, Woolworth hired architecture critic Montgomery Schuyler to write
2160-467: A stained-glass skylight surrounded by the names of several nations. The skylight contains the dates 1879 and 1913, which respectively signify the years of the Woolworth Company's founding and the building's opening. The skylight is also surrounded by sculpted grotesques, which depict merchandising activities in the five-and-dime industry. Heinigke and Brown manufactured the leaded glass of
2268-576: A tall building would produce the largest income of any building globally. On January 1, 1911, the New York Times reported Woolworth was planning a 625 feet (191 m) building at a cost of $ 5 million. That month, Woolworth and Hogan acquired the final site for the project. In total, the site had cost $ 4.5 million (about $ 107 million in 2023) and measured 152 feet (46 m) on Broadway, 192.5 feet (58.7 m) on Barclay Street, and 197.83 feet (60 m) on Park Place. In
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#17327825034692376-422: A total cost of $ 1.65 million (about $ 39 million in 2023). Woolworth commissioned Cass Gilbert to design the new building. There are few print documents that indicate early correspondence between Woolworth and Gilbert, and news articles as late as March 1910 mentioned that no architect had been chosen. Gilbert later mentioned that he had received the commission for the Woolworth Building after getting
2484-464: A visit to the Château de Compiègne shortly after the building opened. These included a bronze bust of Napoleon , a set of French Empire-style lamps with gold figures, and an inkwell with a depiction of Napoleon on horseback. The walls of the office contained portraits of Napoleon, and gold-and-scarlet chairs were arranged around the room. At some point, Woolworth replaced the portrait of Napoleon with
2592-610: Is a 792-foot-tall (241 m) residential building and early skyscraper at 233 Broadway in the Tribeca neighborhood of Lower Manhattan in New York City , United States. Designed by Cass Gilbert , it was the tallest building in the world from 1913 to 1929, and it remains one of the nation's 100 tallest buildings as of 2024 . The Woolworth Building is bounded by Broadway and City Hall Park to its east, Park Place to its north, and Barclay Street to its south. It consists of
2700-529: Is a separate street from Broadway. Woolworth and the Irving National Exchange Bank then set up the Broadway–Park Place Company to construct and finance the proposed structure. Initially, the bank was supposed to purchase the company's stock gradually until it owned the entire company, and thus, the Woolworth Building. Irving would be able to manage the 18 floors on a 25-year lease. In addition, Irving would be able to control two of
2808-427: Is a three-story Tudor arch , surrounded on either side by two bays: one narrower than the main arch, the other wider. The five bays form a triumphal arch overhung by a balcony and stone motifs of Gothic design. The intrados of the arch contains 23 niches. The topmost niche depicts an owl; the lowest niches on both sides depict tree trunks; and the other twenty niches depict animated figures. The spandrel above
2916-422: Is a two-story room located to the west of the arcade. It consists of the ground level, which contains former storefronts, as well as a mezzanine level above it. The ground floor originally contained 18 storefronts. A 15-foot-wide (4.6 m) marble staircase leads westward from the arcade to a mezzanine, where the entrance to the Irving National Exchange Bank office was formerly located. The mezzanine contains
3024-512: Is also a basement storage room, known as the "bone yard", which contains replacement terracotta decorations for the facade. The basement also contains closed entrances to two New York City Subway stations. There was an entrance to the Park Place station directly adjacent to the building's north elevation, served by the 2 and 3 trains. This entrance was closed after the September 11 attacks in 2001. Another entrance led to
3132-429: Is capped by a spire. The three layers of pyramids are about 62 feet (19 m), or five stories tall. An observation deck was located at the 55th floor, about 730 feet (220 m) above ground level. The deck was octagonal in plan, measuring 65 feet (20 m) across, was accessed by a glass-walled elevator. It was patronized by an estimated 300,000 visitors per year but was closed as a security measure in 1941 after
3240-576: Is now situated. During the pre- Revolutionary era City Hall Park was the site of many rallies and movements. For instance, in 1765, New Yorkers protested the Stamp Act of 1765 at the site. On March 18, 1766, New Yorkers rejoiced when the Stamp Act was repealed. In 1766, the Sons of Liberty erected the first “ Liberty pole ", a commemorative mast topped by a vane featuring the word “liberty", outside
3348-656: The 1980 Winter Olympic Games in Lake Placid, New York . In 1983, the Irving Trust had 13 branches in New York and was primarily a wholesale bank working with mid- and large-sized corporations and banks. It also had offices around the world, allowing for their claim that the sun never set on the Irving. In 1986, Natasha Kagalovsky ( née Gurfinkel) became an employee as head of the department handling accounts with
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3456-482: The City Hall station one block north, now served by the R and W trains, but this was closed in 1982 because of concerns over crime. The area in front of the former entrances was used as a bike-storage area by the 2010s. A private pool, originally intended for F. W. Woolworth, exists in the basement. Proposed as early as 1910, the pool measured 15 by 55 feet (4.6 by 16.8 m) and had
3564-697: The Metropolitan Life Insurance Company Tower , then the tallest building in New York City and the world. On December 20, 1910, Woolworth sent a team of surveyors to measure the Metropolitan Life Tower's height and come up with a precise measurement, so he could make his skyscraper 50 feet (15 m) taller. He then ordered Gilbert to revise the building's design to reach 710 or 712 feet (216 or 217 m), despite ongoing worries over whether
3672-489: The Pearl Harbor attack . Strongly articulated piers , which carry right to the pyramidal cap without intermediate cornices , give the building its upward thrust. This was influenced by Aus's belief that, "From an engineering point of view, no structure is beautiful where the lines of strength are not apparent." The copper roof is connected to the Woolworth Building's steel superstructure , which serves to ground
3780-523: The "arcade", was characterized by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) as "one of the most spectacular of the early 20th century in New York City". It consists of two perpendicular, double-height passageways with barrel-vaulted ceilings. One passageway runs between the arcade's west wing at the Woolworth Building's "staircase hall" and the east wing at Broadway. The other runs between
3888-524: The 24th floor, revetted in green marble in the French Empire style , is preserved in its original condition. His office included a mahogany desk with a leather top measuring 7.5 by 3.75 feet (2.29 by 1.14 m). That desk contained a hidden console with four buttons to request various members of his staff. The marble columns in the office are capped by gilded Corinthian capitals . Woolworth's reception room contained objects that were inspired by
3996-433: The 28th floor, a two-story-tall copper roof with complex tracery in the Gothic style tops the canopies. The 29th and 30th stories of the north and south wings are of similar depth to the six narrow bays on the Park Place and Barclay Street elevations but contain five bays. A small tower with three bays caps these wings. The 30th through 45th floors contain three bays on each elevation; the side bays contain two windows, while
4104-445: The 53rd floor is the top floor that can be occupied. Above the 53rd floor, the tower tapers into a pyramidal roof. The lowest four stories are clad in limestone . Above that, the exterior of the Woolworth Building was cast in limestone-colored, glazed architectural terracotta panels. F. W. Woolworth initially wanted to clad the skyscraper in granite , while Gilbert wanted to use limestone. The decision to use terracotta for
4212-739: The American Exchange Irving Trust Company. Finally, in 1929, it changed its name to the Irving Trust Company, the name under which it was known until 1989. On March 9, 1921, there were four national banks in New York City operating branch offices, also including Chatham and Phenix National , the Mechanics and Metals National , the Irving National, and National City Bank . In 1922, Irving Trust opened an account with Roskombank , enabling
4320-439: The Broadway elevation. In addition, horizontal belt courses run above the 4th, 9th, 14th, 19th, and 24th stories. The 25th and 26th stories, above the topmost belt course, are separated by dark-bronze spandrels. The 27th floor contains a canopy of projecting terracotta ogee arches. These decorative features make the tower section "appear to merge with the atmosphere", as architectural writer Donald Reynolds described it. Above
4428-517: The Broadway–Park Place Company's seats, while Woolworth would control the other three seats and serve as that firm's president. While negotiations to create the Broadway-Park Place Company were ongoing, Woolworth and his real estate agent Edward J. Hogan purchased several parcels from the Trenor Luther Park estate and other owners. The entire footprint of the current building, a rectangular lot, had been acquired by April 15, 1910, at
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4536-558: The F. W. Woolworth Company. City Hall Park City Hall Park is a public park surrounding New York City Hall in the Civic Center of Manhattan . It was the town commons of the nascent city of New York . David Provoost was an officer in the Dutch West India Company . His name was on a 1652 list of nine men who governed New Amsterdam. He owned 35 acres (14 ha) around where City Hall Park
4644-860: The Irving National Bank in 1912. In 1918, it acquired, by merger, the Market and Fulton National Bank of New York, and in 1919, the Sherman National Bank of New York and the National City Bank of Brooklyn. In 1922, it merged with the Columbia Trust Company, a New York State-chartered bank, creating the Irving Bank and Trust Company. Later, in 1926, it acquired by merger the American Exchange-Pacific Bank, and changed its name to
4752-406: The Irving National Exchange Bank by May 1914; his company held no ownership stake in the building. The bank, whose only involvement in the building was now as a tenant, agreed to lease the entire second story for $ 100,000 a year. The building contained offices for as many as 14,000 employees. By the end of 1914, the building was 70% occupied and generating over $ 1.3 million a year in rents for
4860-831: The Mother Church. Two years later, construction began on the new Bridewell , a jail. American Prisoners of War would be held in the Bridewell during the British occupation of New York in the American Revolutionary War . On July 9, 1776, units of the Continental Army and citizens gathered in the commons to hear the Declaration of Independence read by George Washington , while over 150 British ships and tens of thousands of troops were in
4968-494: The Soldiers’ Barracks. British soldiers chopped it down, and it was replaced five times. A replica dating to 1921 now stands near its original location between City Hall and Broadway . In 1766, St. Paul's Chapel was completed as a chapel of Lower Manhattan's Trinity Church . It stood in a field some distance from the growing port city to the south and was built as a "chapel-of-ease" for parishioners who did not live near
5076-626: The Soviet Union and Eastern Europe. On October 7, 1988, the Irving Trust board signed an agreement to merge with Bank of New York ending a yearlong battle as Bank of New York engineered a hostile takeover . At the time of the merger, the combined banks became the United States ' 12th largest bank with asset of $ 42 billion. During that year, Irving had been trying to participate in a friendly merger with Banca Commerciale Italiana . Woolworth Building The Woolworth Building
5184-713: The State of New York John Huston Finley ; Collector of the Port of New York William Loeb Jr. ; naval architect Lewis Nixon ; Rear Admiral Charles Dwight Sigsbee ; Commissioner of Docks and Ferries of the City of New York R. A. C. Smith ; Colonel William Conant Church ; United States Representative from New York Herman A. Metz ; New York City Police Commissioner Rhinelander Waldo ; banker James Speyer ; former Lieutenant Governor of New York Timothy L. Woodruff ; writer Robert Sterling Yard ; Admiral Albert Gleaves ; and reportedly between 69 and 80 congressmen who arrived via
5292-443: The Woolworth Building contains an unused bank vault, restaurant, and barbershop. The bank vault was initially intended to be used for safe-deposit boxes, though it was used by the Irving National Exchange Bank in practice. In 1931, Irving moved some $ 3 billion of deposits to a vault in its new headquarters at 1 Wall Street , and the Woolworth Building's vault was converted into a storage area for maintenance workers. There
5400-413: The Woolworth Building has 2,843, 4,400, or 5,000 windows. Windows were included for lighting and comfort; because the Woolworth Building was built before air conditioning became common, every office is within 10 feet (3.0 m) of a window. Most of the windows are the same size, and each story is the same height. Some of the Woolworth Building's windows are set within arch-shaped openings. Most of
5508-510: The Woolworth Building in the neo-Gothic style . The building resembles European Gothic cathedrals; Reverend S. Parkes Cadman dubbed it "The Cathedral of Commerce" in a booklet published in 1916. F. W. Woolworth , who had devised the idea for the Woolworth Building, had proposed using the Victoria Tower as a model for the building; he reportedly also admired the design of Palace of Westminster . Gilbert, by contrast, disliked
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#17327825034695616-429: The Woolworth Building's steel superstructure was relatively thin, which enabled Gilbert to maximize the building's interior area. Engineers Gunvald Aus and Kort Berle designed the steel frame. Each column carries a load of 24 short tons per square foot (2.3 MPa ), supporting the building's overall weight of 233,000 short tons (208,000 long tons). Where the columns of the superstructure did not match up with
5724-533: The Woolworth Company (later Venator Group ) continued to own the Woolworth Building for most of the 20th century. The structure was sold to the Witkoff Group in 1998. The top 30 floors were sold to a developer in 2012 and converted into residences. Office and commercial tenants use the rest of the building. The Woolworth Building has been a National Historic Landmark since 1966, and a New York City designated landmark since 1983. Cass Gilbert designed
5832-429: The additional height would be worth the increased cost. In order to fit the larger base that a taller tower necessitated, Woolworth bought the remainder of the frontage on Broadway between Park Place and Barclay Street. He also purchased two lots to the west, one on Park Place and one on Barclay Street; these lots would not be developed, but would retain their low-rise buildings and preserve the proposed tower's views. Such
5940-555: The amount of space taken up by the elevator shafts. The usable-space consideration affected the placement of the columns in the wings, as the columns in the main tower were positioned around the elevator shafts and facade piers. Each of the lowest 30 stories had 31 offices, of which ten faced the light court, eight faced Park Place, eight faced Barclay Street, and five faced Broadway. Above the 30th-story setback, each story had 14 offices. For reasons that are unknown, floor numbers 42, 48, and 52 are skipped. Woolworth's private office on
6048-532: The bank to conduct transactions with Russia and later the Soviet Union . In 1923, Irving Trust held correspondent accounts for the sovzagranbank ( Russian : Совзагранбанк ) Russo-Iranian Bank (RIB) also known a Rusiranbank ( Russian : Русиранбанк ). In 1929, Irving was New York's fourth ranked financial institution, and fifth in the United States. Irving Trust was an official sponsor of
6156-512: The basement. F. W. Woolworth , the founder of a brand of popular five-and-ten-cent stores , conceived the skyscraper as a headquarters for his company. Woolworth planned the skyscraper jointly with the Irving Trust , which also agreed to use the structure as its headquarters. The Woolworth Building had originally been planned as a 12- to 16-story commercial building but underwent several revisions during its planning process. Its final height
6264-524: The building from their foundries in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh; manufacturing took over 45 weeks. The first above-ground steel had been erected by October 1911, and installation of the building's terracotta began on February 1, 1912. The building rose at the rate of 1 + 1 ⁄ 2 stories a week and the steelworkers set a speed record for assembling 1,153 tons of steel in six consecutive eight-hour days. By February 18, 1912, work on
6372-493: The building's spandrels , or triangles between the top corners of the window and the top of the arch, have golden Gothic tracery against a bright blue backdrop. On the 25th, 39th, and 40th stories, the spandrels consist of iconography found in the royal coat of arms of the United Kingdom . Gold-on-blue tracery is also found on the 26th, 27th, and 42nd floors. On the part of the base facing Broadway, as well as
6480-415: The building's construction, are placed where the arcade and the mezzanine intersect. These ornaments include Gilbert with a model of the building, Aus taking a girder's measurements, and Woolworth holding nickels and dimes. Two ceiling murals by C. Paul Jennewein , titled Labor and Commerce , are located above the mezzanine where it crosses the south and north wings, respectively. The staircase hall
6588-410: The building's foundations were completed ahead of the target date of September 15; construction of the skyscraper's steel frame began August 15. The steel beams and girders used in the framework weighed so much that, to prevent the streets from caving in, a group of surveyors examined them on the route along which the beams would be transported. The American Bridge Company provided steel for
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#17327825034696696-533: The building's frame and structural elements. The company was paid $ 300,000 for their oversight and management work, despite Woolworth's attempts to get the company to do the job for free due to the prestige of the project. The first potential tenants began applying for space in the building in May 1911, before work had even started. On June 12, 1911, the Atlantic Terra Cotta Company received
6804-580: The building's height to be increased to 620 feet (190 m), which was 8 feet (2.4 m) taller than the Singer Building, Lower Manhattan's tallest building. Woolworth was inspired by his travels in Europe, where he would constantly be asked about the Singer Building. He decided that housing his company in an even taller building would provide invaluable advertising for the F. W. Woolworth Company and make it renowned worldwide. This design, unveiled to
6912-427: The building's main contractor Thompson-Starrett Company , said of Woolworth, "Beyond a doubt his ego was a thing of extraordinary size; whoever tried to find a reason for his tall building and did not take that fact into account would reach a false conclusion." Even after the revised height was unveiled, Woolworth still yearned to make the building even taller as it was now close to the 700-foot (210 m) height of
7020-439: The caissons, they were cantilevered above on plate girders between two adjoining caissons. These girders are extremely large; one such girder measures 8 feet (2.4 m) deep, 6.75 feet (2 m) wide, and 23 feet (7.0 m) long. For the wind bracing, the entire Woolworth Building was considered as a vertical cantilever, and correspondingly large girders and columns were used in the construction. Continuous portal bracing
7128-405: The center bay contains three windows. The 46th through 53rd floors also have three bays on each elevation, but the side bays only contain one window. At the 45th- and 50th-story setbacks, there are turrets at each corner of the tower. The northeast corner turret concealed a smokestack. There is a pyramidal roof above the 53rd floor, as well as four ornamental tourelles at the four corners of
7236-466: The city and was considered one of the great engineering feats of the 19th century. Starting in 1861, the Tweed Courthouse was built in the northern portion of the park. The courthouse was widely seen as a symbol of corruption because it was built using funds provided by the corrupt William M. "Boss" Tweed , whose Tammany Hall political machine controlled the city and state governments at
7344-521: The combined banks' headquarters to the F. W. Woolworth Company's new headquarters. Having received a commitment from the banks, Woolworth acquired a corner site on Broadway and Park Place in Lower Manhattan , opposite City Hall . Woolworth briefly considered purchasing a plot at West Broadway and Reade Street several blocks north. He decided against it because of the prestige that a Broadway address provided; despite its name, West Broadway
7452-417: The comparison to religious imagery. The architect ultimately used 15th- and 16th-century Gothic ornament on the Woolworth Building, along with a complementary color scheme. Though the building's steel frame was uncommon to neo-Gothic structures, its facade emphasizes vertical design elements, similarly to other neo-Gothic buildings. The Woolworth Building was designed to be 420 feet (130 m) high but
7560-418: The details and beauty of the building's design, as well as the entrepreneur's enthusiasm for the project. Such was the scale of the building that, for several years, Gilbert's sense of scale was "destroyed [...] because of the unprecedented attuning of detail to, for these days, such an excessive height". In September 1910, wrecking crews demolished the five-and-six-story structures which previously occupied
7668-579: The eastern sides of their respective elevations, lining up with the tower above them, and contain a wide arch flanked by two narrower arches. The three entrances feed into the arcaded lobby. The building's Park Place entrance contained a stair to the New York City Subway 's Park Place station, served by the 2 and 3 trains, inside the westernmost bay of the building entrance. The facade contains vertical piers , which protrude diagonally. There are six such piers on
7776-555: The equivalent of an 80-story building. It remained the tallest building in the world until 40 Wall Street and the Chrysler Building , both in New York City, were constructed in 1929–1930. The building is assigned its own ZIP Code , 10279; it was one of 41 buildings in Manhattan that had their own ZIP Codes as of 2019 . The building's tower, flush with the main frontage on Broadway, joins an office block base with
7884-458: The facade was based on both aesthetic and functional concerns. Terracotta was not only fireproof but also, in Gilbert's mind, a purely ornamental addition clarifying the Woolworth Building's steel construction. Each panel was of a slightly different color, creating a polychrome effect. The facade appeared to have a uniform tone, but the upper floors were actually darker and more dense . Behind
7992-480: The first official materials that reflect this final height. Gilbert had to reconcile both Woolworth's and Pierson's strict requirements for the design of the structure. The architect's notes describe late-night conversations that he had with both men. The current design of the lobby, with its arcade, reflected these conflicting pressures. Sometimes, Gilbert also faced practical conundrums, such as Woolworth's requirement that there be "many windows so divided that all of
8100-429: The general construction company. George A. Fuller 's Fuller Company was well experienced and had practically invented skyscraper construction, but Louis Horowitz's Thompson-Starrett Company was local to New York; despite being newer, Horowitz had worked for Fuller before, and thus had a similar knowledge base. On April 20, 1911, Thompson-Starrett won the contract with a guaranteed construction price of $ 4,308,500 for
8208-404: The ground with a pneumatic caisson process to anchor the foundations to the bedrock. Because the slope of the bedrock was so sharp, steps had to be carved into the rock before the caissons could be sunk into the ground. The caissons were both round and rectangular, with the rectangular caissons located mainly on the southern and western lot lines. The caissons are irregularly distributed across
8316-564: The harbor. The Sons of Liberty led a crowd from there down Broadway to Bowling Green and tore down the gilt lead statue of George III of Great Britain there. On November 9, 1783, the American forces recaptured the Civic Center, and George Washington raised the flag in the park. Six years later, General Washington was named the president of the United States of America, and immediately after his inauguration, President Washington went to
8424-450: The hot-water plant, the fire-protection system, the communal restrooms, the offices with restrooms, the basement swimming pool, and the basement restaurant. There are water tanks on the 14th, 27th, 28th, 50th, and 53rd floors. Although the water is obtained from the New York City water supply system , much of it is filtered and reused. A dedicated water system, separate from the city's, was proposed during construction, but workers abandoned
8532-436: The initial estimates of US$ 5 million for the shorter versions of the skyscraper (equivalent to $ 154,000,000 in 2023). This was divided into $ 5 million for the land, $ 1 million for the foundation, and $ 7 million for the structure. Woolworth provided $ 5 million, while investors provided the remainder, and financing was completed by August 1911. The building opened on April 24, 1913. Woolworth held
8640-492: The island of Skyros in Greece covers the lobby. Edward F. Caldwell & Co. provided the interior lights for the lobby and hallways. Patterned glass mosaics that contain blue, green, and gold tiling with red accents decorate the ceilings. There are other Gothic-style decorations in the lobby, including on the cornice and the bronze fittings. Twelve plaster brackets , which carry grotesques depicting major figures in
8748-404: The left side of the arch depicts Mercury , classical god of commerce, while that above the right side depicts Ceres , classical goddess of agriculture. Above all of this is an ogee arch with more niches, as well as two carvings of owls hovering above a "W" monogram. There are salamanders within niches on either side of the main entrance. Inside the triumphal arch, there is a smaller arch with
8856-419: The lobby were designed by Tiffany Studios . The patterns on the doors have been described as " arabesque tracery patterns in etched steel set off against a gold-plated background". The entrepreneur F. W. Woolworth immigrated to the U.S. in 1886 and became successful because of his " Five-and-Dime " (5- and 10-cent stores). He began planning a new headquarters for the F. W. Woolworth Company in 1910. Around
8964-470: The mezzanine ceiling, as well as the barrel vault of the lobby. There is a smaller space west of the staircase hall with a one-story-high ceiling. This room contains a coffered ceiling with a blue-green background. The crossbeams contain Roman portrait heads, while the cornice contains generic sculpted grotesques. The lobby also contains a set of German chimes designed by Harry Yerkes . The basement of
9072-505: The north wing at Park Place and the south wing at Barclay Street. A mezzanine crosses the arcade's north and south wings. Where the passageways intersect, there is a domed ceiling. The dome contains pendentives that may have been patterned after those of the Mausoleum of Galla Placidia . The walls of this intersection vault are laid out in an octagonal shape, with mailboxes at the four intercardinal directions . Veined marble from
9180-408: The north, south, and west elevations on the 45th and 50th floors. The 30th through 45th floors measure 84 by 86 feet (26 by 26 m); the 46th through 50th floors, 69 by 71 feet (21 by 22 m); and the 51st through 53rd floors, 69 by 61 feet (21 by 19 m). The tower has a square plan below the 50th-story setback and an octagonal plan above. Though the structure is physically 60 stories tall,
9288-454: The offices should be well lighted", and so that tenants could erect partitions to fit their needs. Gilbert wrote this "naturally prevented any broad wall space". Woolworth commented at length on each of the dozens of drawings that Gilbert drew up. Woolworth and Gilbert sometimes clashed during the design process, especially because of the constantly changing designs and the architect's fees. Nevertheless, Gilbert commended Woolworth's devotion to
9396-589: The plan after unsuccessfully digging 1,500 feet (460 m) into Manhattan's bedrock. The Woolworth Building was the first structure to have its own power plant with four Corliss steam engine generators totaling a capacity of 1,500 kilowatt-hours (5.4 × 10 mJ); the plant could support 50,000 people. The building also had a dedicated heating plant with six boilers with a capacity of 2,500 horsepower (1,900 kW). The boilers were fed from subterranean coal bunkers capable of holding over 2,000 tons of anthracite coal . The ornate, cruciform lobby, known as
9504-404: The public the same month, was a 45-story tower rising 625 feet (191 m), sitting on a lot by 105 by 197 feet (32 by 60 m). Referring to the revised plans, Woolworth said, "I do not want a mere building. I want something that will be an ornament to the city." He later said that he wanted visitors to brag that they had visited the world's tallest building. Louis J. Horowitz, president of
9612-481: The renowned St. Paul's Chapel, the oldest surviving church in Manhattan. In 1802, since the original City Hall of New York City was aging and could not accommodate the growing municipal government, New York City's administration decided to hold a competition for the best new City Hall design. Aaron Burr promised Philadelphia's Benjamin Henry Latrobe that he would win. When he lost, Latrobe bitterly denounced
9720-500: The roof electrically. The Gothic detailing concentrated at the highly visible crown is over-scaled, and the building's silhouette could be made out from several miles away. Gilbert's choice of the Gothic style was described as "an expression of the verticality of the tower form", and as Gilbert himself later wrote, the style was "light, graceful, delicate and flame-like". Gilbert considered several proposals for exterior lighting, including four powerful searchlights atop nearby buildings and
9828-486: The same time, Woolworth's friend Lewis Pierson was having difficulty getting shareholder approval for the merger of his Irving National Bank and the rival New York Exchange Bank . Woolworth, who was looking for funding, mentioned his plans for the building at a lunch with Pierson. Woolworth offered to acquire shares in New York Exchange Bank and vote in favor of the merger if Pierson agreed to move
9936-503: The site, being more densely concentrated at the northeastern corner. This is because the building was originally planned to occupy a smaller site at the corner of Broadway and Park Place; when the site was enlarged, the caissons that had already been installed were left in place. The two basement levels, descending 55 feet (17 m), are constructed of reinforced concrete. Whereas many earlier buildings had been constructed with load-bearing walls , which by necessity were extremely thick,
10044-520: The site. Construction officially began on November 4, 1910, with excavation by the Foundation Company, using a contract negotiated personally by Frank Woolworth. The start of construction instantly raised the site's value from $ 2.25 million to $ 3.2 million. The contract of over $ 1 million was described as the largest contract for foundation construction ever awarded in the world. It took months for Woolworth to decide upon
10152-410: The steel frame had reached the building's 18th floor. By April 6, 1912, the steel frame had reached the top of the base at the 30th floor and work then began on constructing the tower of the Woolworth Building. Steel reached the 47th floor by May 30 and the official topping out ceremony took place two weeks ahead of schedule on July 1, 1912, as the last rivet was driven into the summit of
10260-531: The terracotta panels were brick walls; the terracotta pieces are attached to the brick walls by metal rods and hangers. The Atlantic Terra Cotta Company provided the original terracotta cladding. The panels were manufactured in shades of blue, green, sienna, and rose. The terracotta panels were partially vitrified , allowing them to bear large loads. Gilbert also asked that John Donnelly and Eliseo V. Ricci create full-size designs based on Atlantic Terra Cotta's models. In 1932, Atlantic Terra Cotta carried out
10368-444: The tower above it, there are three bays ; the left and right bays have two windows per floor, while the center bay has three windows. The elevations facing Park Place and Barclay Street each have six bays with two windows per floor. The base, on its lowest four stories, is divided into three-story-high entrance and exit bays, each of which has a one-story attic above it. There are nine entrances in total. The main entrance on Broadway
10476-454: The tower once construction was complete. Of these, 24 were passenger elevators, which were arranged around cruciform elevator lobbies on each floor. Two freight elevators and two emergency staircases were placed at the rear of the building. The elevators are accessed from bays in the eastern and western walls of the arcade. The walls are both divided by two bays with round arches, and there are four elevators on each wall. The elevator doors in
10584-413: The tower's setbacks, the outer walls are supported by girders, as the columns beneath them are offset. Above the 28th floor, knee braces and column-girder connections were used; hollow-tile floors were installed because it would have taken too long to set the concrete floors, especially during cold weather. Upon completion, the Woolworth Building contained seven water systems—one each for the power plant,
10692-409: The tower. After the building was topped out, Gilbert initially told Woolworth that he thought the building was about 787 feet (240 m) tall, but Woolworth's own engineers found the true height to be 792 feet (241 m). The skyscraper was substantially completed by the end of 1912. The final estimated construction cost was US$ 13.5 million (equivalent to $ 416,000,000 in 2023), up from
10800-415: The tower. The roof was originally gilt but is now green. The pyramidal roof, as well as the smaller roofs below, used 40,000 square feet (3,700 m ) of gold leaf. The main roof is interspersed with small dormers , which contain windows into the maintenance levels inside. The pyramidal roof is topped by another pyramid with an octagonal base and tall pointed-arch windows. In turn, the octagonal pyramid
10908-413: The winners, “bricklayer” John McComb Jr. and French exile Joseph-François Mangin , and their “vile invention". In fact, McComb and Mangin were each accomplished architects, and their design was superior to Latrobe's, but City Hall was their only collaboration, and it was brief. McComb alone oversaw construction and subsequent changes to the design, and Mangin's career seems to have faltered. Decades later,
11016-427: Was abolished in New York on July 4, 1827, Emancipation Day , prompting a two-day celebration in the park and a parade. In 1830, the old debtor prison, New Gaol, was transformed into the city's hall of records. When the building was torn down in 1903, it was New York's oldest municipal building. New York City's lavish architecture and growing economy attracted tourists, and in 1836, the first New York City luxury hotel
11124-669: Was built. Isaiah Rogers , with a reputation for building America's first luxury hotel, designed the six-story Park Hotel , which was commonly known as the Astor House. In 1842, the Croton Fountain was placed in the center of City Hall Park to celebrate the Croton Aqueduct , New York City's first dependable supply of pure water. The aqueduct drew water from the Croton Dam more than 40 miles (64 km) north of
11232-449: Was eventually raised to 792 feet (241 m). Several different height measurements have been cited over the years, but the building rises about 793.5 feet (241.9 m) above the lowest point of the site. The Woolworth Building was 60 stories tall when completed in 1913, though this consisted of 53 usable floors topped by several mechanical floors. The building's ceiling heights, ranging from 11 to 20 feet (3.4 to 6.1 m), make it
11340-514: Was named after Washington Irving , an author, diplomat, and lawyer who had gained an international reputation as America's first man of letters. His portrait appeared on the bank's notes. In June 1865, it converted from a state bank to a bank chartered under the National Bank Act of 1863, and became the Irving National Bank of New York. In 1907, after a merger, it became the Irving National Exchange Bank of New York, changing its name to
11448-437: Was not decided upon until January 1911. Construction started in 1910 and was completed two years later. The building officially opened on April 24, 1913. The Woolworth Building has undergone several changes throughout its history. The facade was cleaned in 1932, and the building received an extensive renovation between 1977 and 1981. The Irving National Exchange Bank moved its headquarters to 1 Wall Street in 1931, but
11556-517: Was originally retained to design a standard 12- to 16-story commercial building for Woolworth, who later said he "had no desire to erect a monument that would cause posterity to remember me". By 1910, the plans called for a building with a 20-story base and 10-story upper section. Woolworth then wanted to surpass the nearby New York World Building , which sat on the other side of City Hall Park and stood 20 stories and 350 feet (110 m). A drawing by Thomas R. Johnson, dated April 22, 1910, shows
11664-431: Was used between the 1st and 28th floors, except in the interior columns, where triangular bracing was used. The portal braces on the building's exterior direct crosswinds downward toward the ground, rather than into the building. Interconnecting trusses were placed at five-floor intervals between the tower and the wings; these, as well as the side and court walls, provided the bracing for the wings. Directly above each of
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