Singer Building

Singer Building
Basic data
Place:	New York City , United States
Construction time :	1906-1908
Status :	Demolished in 1968
Architectural style :	Beaux-Arts
Architect :	Ernest Flagg
Use / legal
Usage :	office
Owner :	Singer Manufacturing Co.
Technical specifications
Height :	187 m
Rank (height) :	-
Floors :	47
Building material :	Structure: steel ; ; Facade: glass, limestone

The Singer Building on Broadway of New York City was the headquarters of the sewing machine manufacturer Singer . The building was in the style of the Beaux-Arts held and was completed 1908th With a height of 187 meters it was the tallest building in New York and for a short time also the tallest building in the world .

The Singer Building was demolished in 1968 along with the neighboring City Investing Building . The US Steel Building was erected on the site in the 1970s (today: One Liberty Plaza ). The Singer Building is the tallest building to be demolished for a new building.

history

Interior view, September 1967, during the demolition work

Postcard, around 1910

The architect Ernest Flagg submitted the plans for the building in 1902, which was initially only supposed to reach a height of around 300 feet (around 91 m). However, this was soon increased to almost double. Work on 149 Broadway and the corner of Liberty Street began in 1906. With its 47 floors , it was the tallest building in the world for a short time until the Metropolitan Life Tower opened in 1909.

The Singer company used the upper floors of the tower - including the six floors in the tower's lantern - and rented out the floors below the 31st floor. There was a viewing platform for visitors on the 40th floor. For the New York Building Code of 1916, the building became the benchmark because the tower only took up 25 percent of the property. This became the default for future construction projects.

In the course of the 1960s, however, the building turned out to be unprofitable due to its interior dimensions that were too small. It offered only 390 m² of usable space per floor; the 60-year-old skyscraper was therefore torn down in 1967 to make room for the US Steel Building , which offers 3,400 m² of usable space per floor. The demolition work began in August 1967 and was completed a year later. Although the Singer Building was one of the most distinctive structures in New York, it was not a listed building. The Landmarks Preservation Commission responsible for recognition announced in August 1967 that if the building had been recognized, the City of New York would either have found a buyer for the building or would have to acquire it itself.

architecture

The slender rising tower followed the type of a lighthouse . The tower itself rose above the 15th floor from the center of a complex of two lower structures that had already been built by Flagg.

literature

Andres Lepik: " Skyscraper ". Munich: Prestel Verlag, 2005. ISBN 3-7913-3454-9

Web links

Commons : 149 Broadway Singer Building - Collection of Pictures, Videos and Audio Files

References and comments

↑ http://skyscraperpage.com/cities/?buildingID=2376
↑ Gray, Christopher. Streetscapes: Once the Tallest Building, but since 1967 a Ghost . The New York Times , January 2, 2005, downloaded August 1, 2010.

before	Tallest skyscraper in the world	after that
Park Row Building	187 m 1908-1909	Metropolitan Life Tower

40.709726944444 -74.010816111111Coordinates: 40 ° 42 '35 " N , 74 ° 0' 38.9" W.

[1] ttp://skyscraperpage.com/cities/?buildingID=2376

[2] Gray, Christopher. Streetscapes: Once the Tallest Building, but since 1967 a Ghost . The New York Times , January 2, 2005, downloaded August 1, 2010.