Woolworth Building - NYC

Woolworth Building in New York City -

Designed by Cass Gilbert, the Woolworth building The Woolworth Building, at fifty-seven stories, is one of the oldest — and one of the most famous — skyscrapers in New York. More than ninety years after its construction, it is still one of the fifty tallest buildings in the United States as well as one of the twenty tallest buildings in NYC. The building is a National Historic Landmark, having been listed in 1966.

This particular post card is from 1912, a full year before the building opened and must be an artists rendering from the original plans.

Commissioned by Frank Woolworth in 1910 to design the new corporate headquarters on Broadway, between Park Place and Barclay Street in Lower Manhattan, opposite City Hall, the Woolworth Building opened on April 24, 1913. Originally planned to be 625 ft high, in accordance with the area zoning laws, the building was elevated to 792 feet. Construction cost was $13,500,000 and Woolworth paid in cash.

At the age of nine, Cass Gilbert's family moved to Saint Paul, Minnesota where he was raised by his mother after his father died. After attending preparatory school in nearby Minneapolis, Gilbert dropped out of Macalester College, before beginning his architectural career at age 17 by joining the Abraham Radcliffe office in St. Paul. In 1878 Gilbert enrolled in the architecture program at MIT.

Statistics:
Height (struct.) - 792 ft
Floors (OG) - 57
Construction end -1913
Type of construction - high-rise building
Architectural style - neo-Gothic, Gothic Revival, Deco

Status - Protected

Open to the Public - NO