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Singer Building

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Kristin Moore
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« on: April 16, 2011, 01:22:18 am »

Singer Building

The Singer Building or Singer Tower at Liberty Street and Broadway in Manhattan, was a 47-story office building completed in 1908 as the headquarters of the Singer Manufacturing Company.[4] It was demolished in 1968 and is now the site of 1 Liberty Plaza.
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Kristin Moore
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« Reply #1 on: April 16, 2011, 01:23:12 am »



Status    Demolished
Record height
Tallest in the world from 1908 to 1909
Preceded by    Philadelphia City Hall
Surpassed by    Metropolitan Life Insurance Company Tower
Information
Type    Commercial offices
Location    149 Broadway
New York City, New York
Coordinates    40°42′35″N 74°00′36″W / 40.70982°N 74.01001°W / 40.70982; -74.01001Coordinates: 40°42′35″N 74°00′36″W / 40.70982°N 74.01001°W / 40.70982; -74.01001
Completed    1908
Roof    186.57 m (612.1 ft)
Floor count    47
Main contractor    General Supply & Construction Company
Structural engineer    Boller & Hodge
References
[1][2][3]
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Kristin Moore
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« Reply #2 on: April 16, 2011, 01:23:41 am »

The building was commissioned by Frederick Bourne, the head of the Singer Sewing Machine Company. He hired noted architect Ernest Flagg, who was an early exponent of the Beaux-Arts architectural style.[5] Flagg had also designed the company's previous headquarters at 561 Broadway between Prince and Spring Streets – in what is now the SoHo neighborhood – which was referred to as the "Little Singer Building" after the new building was erected.[6][7] Plans and working drawings were prepared by George W. Conable (1866-1933).[8]

Flagg believed that buildings more than 10 or 15 stories high should be set back from the street, with the tower occupying only a quarter of the lot.[5] The 12-story base of the building filled an entire blockfront, while the tower above was relatively narrow. The tower floors were squares only 65 feet (20 m) on a side.

New York Times architectural critic Christopher Gray wrote in 2005:

    The lobby had the quality of "celestial radiance" seen in world's-fair and exposition architecture of the period, as the author Mardges Bacon described it in her 1986 monograph "Ernest Flagg" (Architectural History Foundation, MIT Press). A forest of marble columns rose high to a series of multiple small domes of delicate plasterwork, and Flagg trimmed the columns with bronze beading. A series of large bronze medallions placed at the top of the columns were alternately rendered in the monogram of the Singer company and, quite inventively, as a huge needle, thread and bobbin.[5]
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Kristin Moore
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« Reply #3 on: April 16, 2011, 01:24:19 am »

At 612 feet (187 m) above grade, the Singer Building was the tallest building in the world from its completion until the completion in 1909 of the 700-foot (210 m) Metropolitan Life Insurance Company Tower at 23rd Street and Madison Avenue in Manhattan.[5]

Skyscraper zoning legislation, enacted in 1916 at Flagg's urging, incorporated many of his ideas for setbacks in tall buildings.[5]

In 1961, Singer sold the building and subsequently moved to Rockefeller Center.[5][9] The building was then acquired by real estate developer William Zeckendorf, who sought unsuccessfully for the New York Stock Exchange to move there. In 1964 United States Steel acquired the building, along with the neighboring City Investing Building, for demolition. By the 1960s the building was uneconomical because of its small interior dimensions. The tower portion of the building contained only 4,200 square feet (390 m2) per floor, compared with 37,000 square feet (3,400 m2) per floor of the building that replaced it, the U.S. Steel Building (currently known as 1 Liberty Plaza).[5]

Although New York had a newly created Landmarks Preservation Commission by the time demolition commenced in 1967, and the Singer Building was considered to be one of the most notable buildings in the city, it did not receive landmark designation that would have prevented demolition. Alan Burnham, executive director of the commission, said in August 1967 that if the building were to have been made a landmark, the city would have to either find a buyer for it or acquire it. Demolition commenced in August 1967 and was completed the following year. At the time, it was the tallest building ever to be destroyed. This record was surpassed in 2001 when the September 11 attacks caused the collapse of the nearby World Trade Center, but it is still the tallest building ever peacefully demolished.[10] The earlier Singer Building in SoHo remains standing.
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« Reply #4 on: April 16, 2011, 01:25:26 am »



Singer Building with the Hudson Terminal
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« Reply #5 on: April 16, 2011, 01:26:20 am »



The building seen from Broadway
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« Reply #6 on: April 16, 2011, 01:27:16 am »



Singer Building
Date    

September 1967
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« Reply #7 on: April 16, 2011, 01:27:40 am »

References

   1. ^ Singer Building at Emporis
   2. ^ Singer Building at SkyscraperPage
   3. ^ Singer Building at Structurae
   4. ^ Ripley, Charles M. (October 1907). "A Building Forty-Seven Stories High". The World's Work: A History of Our Time XIV: 9459–9461.
   5. ^ a b c d e f g Gray, Christopher (2 January 2005). "Streetscapes: Once the Tallest Building, but Since 1967 a Ghost". The New York Times. http://travel.nytimes.com/2005/01/02/realestate/02scap.html. Retrieved 1 August 2010.
   6. ^ White, Norval & Willensky, Elliot. AIA Guide to New York City (4th ed.) New York: Three Rivers Press, 2000. ISBN 0-8129-3107-6., p.100
   7. ^ Gray, Christopher (29 June 1997). "Style Standard for Early Steel-Framed Skyscraper". The New York Times: p. 7. http://www.nytimes.com/1997/06/29/realestate/style-standard-for-early-steel-framed-skyscraper.html?scp=896&sq=corning&st=nyt. Retrieved 1 August 2010.
   8. ^ Larry E. Gobrecht (April 1983). "National Register of Historic Places Registration: Jamaica Chamber of Commerce Building". New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation. http://www.oprhp.state.ny.us/hpimaging/hp_view.asp?GroupView=7335. Retrieved 2011-01-16.
   9. ^ Fried, Joseph P. (Aug. 22, 1967). "Landmark on Lower Broadway to Go". The New York Times. http://select.nytimes.com/mem/archive/pdf?res=F10710F6345F1A718DDDAB0A94D0405B878AF1D3. Retrieved 2 August 2010.
  10. ^ White, Norval & Willensky, Elliot. AIA Guide to New York City (4th ed.) New York: Three Rivers Press, 2000. ISBN 0-8129-3107-6., p.42

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Kristin Moore
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« Reply #8 on: April 16, 2011, 01:29:26 am »



Tallest buildings 1908 - 1974 (en).svg
English: The tallest buildings in the world, listed from 1908 (when the Singer Building opened) through 1974 (when the Sears Tower overtook the World Trade Center as tallest), all in New York City.

    * 1908: Singer Building (187 m)
    * 1909: Metropolitan Life Insurance Company Tower (213 m)
    * 1913: Woolworth Building (241 m)
    * 1930 (April): 40 Wall Street (283 m)
    * 1930 (May): Chrysler Building (320 m)
    * 1931: Empire State Building (381 m)
    * 1972: World Trade Center (526 m)

Sources:

    * Eisenstadt, Peter (ed.) (2005). “Skyscrapers”, The Encyclopedia of New York State, 1417-1418. Syracuse, New York: Syracuse University Press.
    * Gerometta, Marshall (2010). Height: The History of Measuring Tall Buildings. Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat. Retrieved on 2010-12-20.

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« Reply #9 on: April 16, 2011, 01:30:50 am »

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« Reply #10 on: April 16, 2011, 01:32:09 am »

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« Reply #11 on: April 16, 2011, 01:32:26 am »

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« Reply #12 on: April 16, 2011, 01:33:23 am »

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« Reply #13 on: April 16, 2011, 01:35:41 am »

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« Reply #14 on: April 16, 2011, 01:36:46 am »

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