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169-810: The Singer Building (also known as the Singer Tower ) was an office building and early skyscraper in Manhattan , New York City. The headquarters of the Singer Manufacturing Company , was at the northwestern corner of Liberty Street and Broadway in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan . Frederick Gilbert Bourne , leader of the Singer Company, commissioned the building, which architect Ernest Flagg designed in multiple phases from 1897 to 1908. The building's architecture contained elements of

338-506: A 65-foot (20 m) boom, lifted the steel beams from ground level to a 17th-story platform. The other was installed on the 17th floor and had a capacity of 25 short tons (22 long tons; 23 t); this derrick erected the tower's steel. Generally, it took less than five minutes to transfer the steel from ground level to the superstructure. German steel was used in the Singer Tower's framing because of Flagg's belief that German workmanship

507-458: 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

676-450: 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

845-467: A capacity of 387.5 kilowatts (519.6 hp). With the 1906–1908 addition, boilers aggregating 1,925 horsepower (1,435 kW) were installed, and generators with a capacity of 1,400 kilowatts (1,900 hp) were added, replacing the old ones. A steel smokestack at the northwest corner of the building was shared with the City Investing Building to the north. The lobby, accessed from Broadway,

1014-537: 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

1183-683: 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

1352-467: A frontage of 27 feet (8.2 m). By 1905, the Singer Company controlled most of the block along both Broadway and Liberty Street; the original Singer Building was an L-shaped structure extending west and then north from the northwestern corner of Broadway and Liberty Street. Concurrently with the land acquisitions, Flagg was retained to design a second addition to the Singer Building in 1902. By early

1521-482: 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

1690-497: 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

1859-556: 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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2028-523: 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

2197-486: 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

2366-470: A recent graduate of the École des Beaux-Arts . Frederick Bourne, who had become the Singer Company's president in 1889, oversaw the firm's expansion into European markets during that time. In February 1890, the Singer Manufacturing Company acquired the lot at 151–153 Broadway. The next month, they bought the lots at 149 Broadway and 83 Liberty Street, at the northwest corner of

2535-416: 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

2704-452: A result of the modifications, the first three stories were faced with rusticated North River bluestone. Four stories were added between the seventh floor and the three-story roof during that time, and the Broadway facade was expanded from two bays to five. With the modifications, the vertical bays were separated with vertical strips from the fourth to the 10th floors, with pediments above

2873-555: A roof height of 612 feet (187 m), the Singer Tower was the tallest building in the world from 1908 to 1909, when it was surpassed by the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company Tower . The base occupied the building's entire land lot ; the tower's floors took up just one-sixth of that area. Despite being regarded as a city icon, the Singer Building was razed between 1967 and 1969 to make way for One Liberty Plaza , which had several times more office space than

3042-509: A single group on the southeastern side of the building, while the Bourne Building's elevators were in two pairs opposite each other. The building's managers hired female elevator operators , whom they characterized as "businesslike in appearance and polite in manner", as opposed to the "slovenly male operator with the ever-ready 'back talk'". The cabs also had telephones, with which the elevator operators and starters could communicate. During

3211-399: 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:

3380-442: 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

3549-622: 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

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3718-542: 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

3887-461: Is considered especially important for certain types of commercial and retail real estate, in applying zoning bylaws and property tax. In the case of contiguous buildings individual frontages are usually measured to the middle of any party wall. In some parts of the United States, particularly New England and Montana , a frontage road is one which runs parallel to a major road or highway, and

4056-401: Is intended primarily for local access to and egress from those properties which line it. A "river frontage" or "ocean frontage" is the length of a plot of land that faces directly onto a river or ocean respectively. Consequently, the amount of such frontage may affect the value of the plot. "What is Frontage?" . Edmonton's Real Estate Guide . This architecture -related article

4225-428: 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,

4394-510: The Beaux-Arts and French Second Empire styles. The building was composed of four distinct sections. The original 10-story Singer Building at 149 Broadway was erected between 1897 and 1898, and the adjoining 14-story Bourne Building on Liberty Street was built from 1898 to 1899. In the first decade of the 20th century, the two buildings were expanded to form the 14-story base of the Singer Tower, which rose another 27 stories. The facade

4563-589: 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 a halt, ending this era of skyscraper construction. Popular and academic culture embraced the skyscraper through films, photography, literature, and ballet, seeing

4732-544: 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 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,

4901-541: 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

5070-626: 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,

5239-1133: 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 ,

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5408-465: The dome and lantern at the tower's pinnacle were included, the Singer Tower was the equivalent of a 47-story building. The tower was set back 30 feet (9.1 m) behind the base's frontage on Broadway, and it filled only one-sixth of the total lot area. There was a gap of 10 feet (3.0 m) between the Singer Building's tower and the City Investing Building immediately to the north, which

5577-545: 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:

5746-644: 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

5915-424: 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

6084-581: 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

6253-489: 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

6422-428: The 1906–1907 modifications, the main entrance faced Broadway on the eastern facade. This main entrance had a three-story-tall semicircular arch. A two-story architrave was beneath the arch, with an engraved cartouche reading "Singer" at the center. The upper part of the arch had a fanlight with five vertical mullions, below which was a bronze grille measuring 13 feet (4.0 m) wide and 24 feet (7.3 m) tall. As

6591-502: The 19th century, which included such design elements as wind bracing and crucially 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

6760-429: The 20th century. Further acquisitions followed in the first decade of the 20th century. In 1900, Bourne bought an iron-front building at 155 and 157 Broadway, with a frontage of about 39.8 feet (12.1 m) on Broadway. The purchase of 163 Broadway, a house with a frontage of only 12.5 feet (3.8 m), followed in 1902, and in 1903 by the purchase of the five-story 93 Liberty Street, which added

6929-464: The 26th century BC at a height of 481 feet (147 m), would remain the tallest structure on Earth for a millennia until it 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

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7098-481: The 33rd through 35th floors, had a plethora of ornamental plaster. The highest publicly accessible point in the Singer Building was 564 feet (172 m) above the curb, at the lantern balcony. When the observation deck opened on June 23, 1908, visitors paid $ 0.50 (equivalent to $ 17 in 2023) to use the observation area at the top of the building. From this observation deck, visitors could see as far as 30 miles (48 km) away. After two people jumped from

7267-454: The 38th floor. Above that level, a heavy stone cornice ran around the corners and above the arches. The top of the tower contained a 50-foot-tall (15 m) dome covering the top three stories, capped by a lantern that measures 9 feet (2.7 m) across at its base and stretches 63.75 feet (19 m) tall. The dome's roof was made of slate, while the roof ornamentation, dormers, and lantern were made of copper sheeting. In its final years,

7436-569: 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 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

7605-506: 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

7774-517: 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 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

7943-514: The Bourne Building's site until September 1899, and the Bourne Building was completed the same year. By 1900, the Singer and Bourne buildings were both fully occupied. The tenants included the law office of Augustus Van Wyck , and the Trust Company of America . Boiler manufacturers Babcock & Wilcox were long-term tenants, occupying the Singer Building for more than forty years from the beginning of

8112-471: 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

8281-511: 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

8450-659: 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

8619-553: 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

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8788-428: The Singer Company's monogram or a needle, thread, and bobbin . At the tops of the piers were decorative pendentives , which supported glazed plaster domes above. The pendentives were ornately decorated with gold leaf. The domes' drums originally contained flat, circular amber glass lights in steel frames, which were later replaced with modern glass lighting fixtures. Immediately outside the entrance, on either side of

8957-477: The Singer Manufacturing Company in 1865. The Singer Manufacturing Company was also involved in real estate during the latter half of the 19th century, Clark commissioning Henry Janeway Hardenbergh to design the Dakota and other New York City residential buildings in the 1880s. By the following decade, at the behest of Clark's son Alfred Corning Clark , the Singer Company was instead working with Ernest Flagg, then

9126-455: The Singer Tower's 29th, 39th, and 42nd floors had a combined capacity of 15,000 gallons and served several portions of the tower. To provide water to the base, there was one tank of 5,000 U.S. gallons (19,000 L) in the Bourne Building and three tanks of a combined 18,000 U.S. gallons (68,000 L) in the original Singer Building. This allowed all the offices in the tower portion to be provided with cold, hot, and ice water. Two heaters in

9295-424: The Singer Tower. At the time of its destruction, the Singer Building was the tallest building ever to be demolished by its owners , a distinction it held until 2019. The Singer Building was at the northwest corner of Liberty Street and Broadway in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan , abutting the City Investing Building to the north. The land lot was nearly rectangular, though slightly skewed due to

9464-620: 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

9633-444: 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 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

9802-433: The banks in the financial district of Manhattan competed fiercely with English institutions for international dominance. The Great Fire of 1835 destroyed most of 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

9971-417: The basement provided heated water to the entire building. There was also a refrigeration plant with two pumps and a small freezing system capable of producing 500 to 1,000 pounds (230 to 450 kg) of ice daily. The Singer Building contained a vacuum steam system, although the ground-floor lobby and the basement vaults were heated by an indirect-steam system. Heating came from steel radiators on each floor;

10140-406: The brick; Martin P. Lodge for the bluestone; J. J. Spurr & Sons for the limestone; and New Jersey Terra Cotta for the terracotta. For decorative elements, 101 short tons (90 long tons; 92 t) of sheet copper was used. Whale Creek Iron Works provided ornamental iron while Jno. Williams Inc. provided the ornamental bronze. There were 85,203 square feet (7,915.6 m) of glass in

10309-468: The builders had violated city law by installing concrete flooring instead of hollow-tile floors. As a result, the builders were ordered to replace some non-compliant arches. By August 1907, the steel frame had reached 36 stories, surpassing the Washington Monument 's height. That month, Prince Wilhelm of Sweden visited the 29th floor to see the construction process. On October 4, 1907,

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10478-519: The building topped out with the hoisting of the flagpole. After the building topped out, the interiors were furnished and plastered. Despite high winds, there were no serious accidents during construction. There was a small fire on the 40th floor in February ;1908, which the Los Angeles Times described at the time as "the highest fire in any building in the world". In late 1905, Flagg

10647-539: 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 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

10816-464: 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

10985-476: 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

11154-403: The central elevator shafts, which were connected to the corners of the tower via longitudinal beams. A girder supported the columns at the tower's corners at the fourth floor, while 36 columns rose from the basement into the tower. Four pillars were placed at each corner of the tower and six more pillars were placed in the elevator shafts. Each truss extended upward for two stories, causing

11323-614: The cities on the east coast and was immensely proud of its status as 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

11492-542: The city of Chicago became the other major site in the development of early skyscrapers. In contrast to New York, Chicago emerged as 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

11661-402: The columns and braces to act as wind-resistant cantilevers. The braces on the north and south contained 11 panels each while those on the east and west contained 10 panels. The four columns at the center of the tower supported its dome. The superstructure was erected using two boom derricks . One of them, with a capacity of 40 short tons (36 long tons; 36 t), a 75-foot (23 m) mast, and

11830-473: 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

11999-422: The company. The 2nd through 13th floors contained offices flanking a T-shaped corridor facing away from the elevators. The ceilings of these story were generally painted in white watercolor while the walls were light tan. In addition, these stories contained oak trim, partitions, and decorative moldings. The average story at the base contained 40 offices. The tower stories contained a U-shaped layout surrounding

12168-504: The completion of work. A month later, on June 23, the observation balcony opened. The Singer Building quickly became a symbol of Manhattan with its floodlit tower. Surpassing Philadelphia City Hall in height, the Singer Building remained the tallest in the world for a year after its tower's completion. The record was surpassed by the 700-foot (210 m) Metropolitan Life Insurance Company Tower , at 24th Street and Madison Avenue . Early skyscrapers Chicago initially led

12337-669: The construction of the American Surety Building , a 20-story, 303-foot (92 m) development that broke Chicago's height record. From then on, New York thoroughly embraced skeleton frame construction. 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 development. Isaac M. Singer and Edward C. Clark had founded I. M. Singer & Company in 1851. The company, which manufactured sewing equipment, became

12506-558: 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

12675-557: The construction of the Singer Tower, the original Singer Building was shored up and additional foundations were built. The top three stories of the old Singer Building, including the mansard roof , were temporarily taken apart in June ;1907, so that four more stories could be inserted above the existing seventh story. As such, the old eighth story of the old Singer Building became the new 12th story. This added 15,600 square feet (1,450 m) of usable space without disturbing tenants on

12844-440: The construction process, and nearly 100 construction contracts were awarded. There were no general contractors on the project; the owners communicated directly with the suppliers responsible for each contract. When the tower addition was completed in 1908, its roof was 612 feet (187 m) high. The tower was topped by a 58-foot (18 m) flagpole, giving it a ground-to-pinnacle height of 670 feet (200 m). The Singer Building

13013-460: 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

13182-456: The deck and died, the Singer Tower was nicknamed "Suicide Pinnacle", and its deck was closed by the 1930s. From the observation deck, a series of steep ladders and stairs led to the lantern. There were 15 Otis electric traction elevators in the completed building, and one electric-drum elevator, for a total of 16 elevators. The tower portion had nine elevators, eight of which ran from the lobby. Four were "local" elevators making all stops between

13351-503: 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

13520-494: 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

13689-399: The dome's trapezoidal skylights were replaced with dormer windows. The top of the lantern was 612 feet (187 m) above ground level, and a steel flagpole rose 62 feet (19 m) above the lantern, bringing the height of the Singer Tower to 674 feet (205 m) when measured from ground to tip. The flagpole was actually 90 feet (27 m) long, but the base of the flagpole was embedded into

13858-465: 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

14027-412: The elevators in the center of the building, with emergency stairs in the tower's core. In the Singer Building's tower, there were very few partitions, except for elevators and restrooms. The average floor in the tower contained 16 offices. On these stories, the ceilings were painted ivory, the walls were olive green, and the metal trim was painted to resemble wood grain. The Singer Company's main offices, on

14196-512: The entire building, about 10   percent of which was interior glass. There was extensive ornamentation throughout the building, including eight arches atop the tower's exterior. The original Singer Building was faced with stone and brick. When it was built, the plans called for the lowest two stories to be clad with stone. The third story contained a balcony extending along both facades. The four following stories were faced with brick and contained windows with stone surrounds. The seventh story

14365-399: The entire structure. The base of the building filled the entire lot. It was composed of the 10-story original structure (later expanded to 14 stories) and the 14-story annex known as the Bourne Building. The original Singer Building, on the southeastern portion of the lot, had a frontage of 58 feet (18 m) on Broadway and 110 feet (34 m) on Liberty Street. The Bourne Building, on

14534-439: The excavation site, was constructed so that workers could receive materials and extract soil more efficiently. The first steel shipments for the anchorages arrived in October 1906. Foundation work was completed on February 18, 1907. The superstructure was constructed afterward. A temporary elevator was installed while the tower's superstructure was being erected. During the construction process, city building inspectors alleged

14703-498: 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 the 612-foot (187 m) tall Singer Tower , the 700-foot (210 m) Metropolitan Life Insurance Company Tower , and

14872-525: 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

15041-469: The facade, was inspired by the design of the Little Singer Building at 561 Broadway, built in 1904. Horizontal belt courses wrapped around the tower above the 17th, 18th, 23rd, 24th, 29th, and 30th stories, while there were terracotta balconies on each side at the 18th, 24th, and 30th stories. Iron balconies also projected from the building at intervals of seven stories. Near the top of

15210-477: 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

15379-567: The form exist in Europe, especially the United Kingdom. The Ditherington Flax Mill 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

15548-524: The foundations were built, the builders drilled several test boreholes to determine the composition of the underlying soil. Contracts for digging the foundation were awarded in August 1906 before the plans were approved. The plans for the Singer Tower were approved on September 12, 1906, and excavation began later that month, with work officially beginning on September 19. A timber platform, measuring 30 feet (9.1 m) wide and descending from Broadway to

15717-504: 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

15886-418: 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

16055-504: 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

16224-406: The groundwater level, the saturation of the ground made it unfeasible to dig the cellar conventionally. The Foundation Company excavated the tower's foundation using pneumatic caissons . The caissons were used to extract the underlying soil, then filled with concrete to create piers. Each caisson pier was designed to carry 30,000 pounds per square foot (1,400 kPa). A gridiron of steel girders

16393-475: 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

16562-431: 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

16731-409: The internal partitions also used terracotta blocks. The underlying layer of bedrock extended as deep as 92 feet (28 m), above which were layers of quicksand , hardpan , rocks, clay, and soil . The groundwater level was 20 feet (6.1 m) below the Singer Building. The ground composition under the lot varied significantly, as the hardpan was compact in some places and loose in others. Below

16900-455: The late 19th century, New York City trailed Chicago in the development of early skyscrapers ; New York had just four buildings over 16 stories tall in 1893, compared to twelve such buildings in Chicago. Part of the delay was caused by New York City authorities, who until 1889 would not allow metal-frame construction techniques. Skyscraper development in New York City changed in 1895 with

17069-431: The layout of the street grid , and measured 74.5 feet (22.7 m) on Broadway by 110 feet (34 m) on Liberty Street. The structure, as completed in 1908, was composed of four distinct sections: the original Singer and Bourne buildings, an annex next to both buildings, and the tower. All of these structures were designed by Ernest Flagg for Frederick Bourne , who led the Singer Manufacturing Company . The structure

17238-410: The lobby and the 13th floor; two of these continued down to the basement. Four "express" elevators ran from the lobby to the upper floors; three of them terminated at the 35th floor and the fourth at the 40th floor. Another "shuttle" elevator served only the 35th through 38th floors. The elevators could carry loads of up to 2,500 pounds (1,100 kg) and could travel from the lobby to

17407-472: The lobby, were stairs leading up to a balcony and down to the basement, while the south wall contained stairs to the original Singer Building. The stairs were made of cast iron and wrought iron, and the handrails and newel posts were made of bronze. The elevators were clustered on the northern wall, opposite the stairs to the original Singer Building. Each of the elevator doors in the lobby were made of four bronze leaves. A balcony, trimmed with bronze, overlooked

17576-451: The lobby. There were Italian marble stairs at the rear of the lobby which split into two flights connecting to either portion of the balcony. A master clock on the central landing of the rear stairs controlled all the clocks in the building. The lobby was a popular spot for meetings. There were also two secondary entrances on Liberty Street—one to the original Singer Building and one to the Bourne Building. Both secondary entrances connected to

17745-428: The lower floors. Several columns were erected at the old building's front and rear elevations, extending from the basement to the 11th floor to support the raised roof. Holes were created in the existing floors of the Singer Building so that they could be supported by steel columns instead of by the bearing walls. The old Singer Building was extended north by 74 feet (23 m), the three extra bays on Broadway having

17914-456: The main lobby to the north. There was retail space on the ground floor as well. The boiler room and mechanical plant were in the basement, and consisted of five boilers and five generators. The boilers were clustered under the western portion of the building, while an engine room was in the center. A pump room and machine room were in the southeastern corner, with a chief engineer's office, electrician's room, and waste paper room. A compressor room

18083-557: 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

18252-447: The new Singer Building at 149 Broadway in early 1897. They called for a 10-story stone-and-brick building with banking rooms on the lowest two stories, rental office space on six of the center stories, and the Singer Company's offices on the upper stories. Construction began that year. While workers were excavating the site in June 1897, a water main burst and flooded the lot. Despite this,

18421-459: The new Singer Building was completed in early 1898. In December 1897, before the new Singer headquarters was completed, Bourne bought three five-story structures for the company at 85–89 Liberty Street, on a plot measuring 74.8 by 99.8 feet (22.8 by 30.4 m). Flagg was retained to design the 14-story Bourne Building on the site, and when he submitted building plans in 1898, the annex was estimated to cost $ 450,000. Bourne did not take title to

18590-467: The next year, he was planning a building that would be the tallest in the world, with over 35 stories. However, the Singer Manufacturing Company did not reveal specific details until February 1906, when it announced that it would build a 594-foot (181 m) tower, the world's tallest. Revised plans were filed in July ;1906, which provided for a more wind-resistant structure. The company intended to occupy

18759-420: The outermost bays from the three center bays, dividing the facade into three vertical sections. The outermost bays were illuminated by small windows. The corners of the tower were made of solid masonry, which concealed the diagonal steel bracing inside. The tower had cast-iron balconies and fascias , as well as wrought-iron jambs and mullions . The use of iron balconies, as well as the large amount of glass in

18928-464: 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

19097-508: 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

19266-495: 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,

19435-404: The project. The Singer Tower addition of 1906–1908 had a steel skeleton and weighed 18,365 short tons (16,397 long tons; 16,660 t). The tower's columns were spaced 12 feet (3.7 m) apart on their centers. Because the three center bays on each side contained windows, only the corners used diagonal bracing and, as such, were treated as square prisms. Inside, there was another structure for

19604-497: The radiators in the ground-floor banking rooms and the Singer Company's 33rd and 34th floor offices were enclosed within ornamental screens. About 1,600 steam radiators were installed throughout the building. As well as providing heat, the building's boilers also provided electric power to the entire building. Initially, the Bourne and original Singer buildings had boilers aggregating 546 horsepower (407 kW) and power generators with

19773-413: 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

19942-427: 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

20111-544: 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

20280-518: 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

20449-435: 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

20618-418: The same style as the original two. In the Bourne Building, the three existing elevators were removed and replaced with four elevators, necessitating the complete replacement of the framing around the old elevator shafts. A small window replaced the main entrance to the original Singer Building. On May 1, 1908, the tower was opened to the public. The construction workers held a dinner that week to celebrate

20787-425: The sidewalk level. These foundations were strengthened when the tower was added. The total weight of the Singer Building, including the tower addition, was carried by 54 steel columns atop the concrete foundation piers. The Singer Building was intended to be fireproof, and the tower section used mostly concrete floors, with wood used in some doors, windows, railings and decorative elements. The base used more wood than

20956-431: The sixth-floor windows. The 11th and 12th floors of the modified base consisted of two rows of small windows, with the 11th-floor windows spaced between brackets supporting a 12th-floor iron balcony. The top two stories contained dormer windows projecting from the mansard roof . The sloped portions of the roof were clad with slate shingles, while glazed roof tiles covered the flat portion. The Singer Tower's facade

21125-612: 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

21294-438: 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. Frontage Frontage is the boundary between a plot of land or a building and the road onto which the plot or building fronts. Frontage may also refer to the full length of this boundary. This length

21463-468: 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

21632-468: 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

21801-464: The southwestern portion, was 58 feet deep and had a frontage of approximately 75 feet (23 m) on Liberty Street. From 1906 to 1907, the original Singer Building was extended northward and the Bourne Building was extended westward. The original Singer and Bourne buildings were about 200 feet (61 m) tall. The 41-story tower above the northwest corner of the base was square in plan, with floor dimensions of 65 by 65 feet (20 by 20 m). When

21970-412: The space above the 31st floor and planned to rent out the bottom section of the tower to tenants to subsidize their use of the upper floors. The Singer Company projected that it would earn $ 250,000 in rent per year, given a baseline rental cost of $ 3 per square foot ($ 32/m). Engineers were hired to create the construction plans as soon as the architect's plans and specifications were published. Before

22139-495: 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

22308-412: 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

22477-537: 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

22646-424: 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

22815-470: 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

22984-462: The top floor at 600 feet per minute (180 m/min), faster than any other elevator then in existence. The base had seven elevators: four in the Bourne Building and three in the original Singer Building. Two of the elevators in the base, one each in the Bourne and original Singer buildings, served all floors from the basement to the roof. The other five ran only from the first floor to the 14th floor. The original Singer Building's elevators were in

23153-441: 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

23322-404: The tower, mainly in the floors, windows, and doors. All the building's stairs were made of cast iron . The interior trim in the Singer Building was made of metal painted to resemble wood, including in the doors. Actual wooden furniture was used in the Singer Company's main offices on the 34th floor. There were also ornamental plaster features executed by H. W. Miller Inc. Plaster

23491-473: The tower, the vertical stone bands on each side formed a tall arch evocative of the tower's dome. On the 36th floor, an ornamental balcony cantilevered about 8.5 feet (2.6 m) outward on each side; it was supported by brackets on the 35th floor. Stone architraves surrounded the corner windows of the 36th and 37th stories, while ornate stone arches framed the center bays on the 36th through 38th stories. There were oval windows on each corner at

23660-402: The tower. The entire exterior was lit at night by 1,600 incandescent lamps and thirty 18-inch (460 mm) projectors, which were visible at distances of up to 20 miles (32 km). Load-bearing walls initially supported the original Singer Building at 149 Broadway, while the Bourne Building annex at 85–89 Liberty Street had an internal steel skeleton . The original Singer Building

23829-438: 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

23998-402: The two streets. The three lots had cost the company over $ 950,000 (equivalent to $ 29,407,000 in 2023), and at the time were occupied by four- to six-story buildings. The three lots were separate prior to the Singer Company's acquisition but, under their ownership, were combined. The Singer Manufacturing Company hired Ernest Flagg for the design of their new headquarters. Flagg filed plans for

24167-446: 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 the first decade of the 20th century. The demand for new office space to hold

24336-480: 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 the ground level and containing rentable offices on

24505-515: The wooden structures within the city. The city was rebuilt on large plots of land in 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

24674-515: 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,

24843-495: 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

25012-413: Was altered between 1906 and 1908 to use a steel skeleton. The entire building used 850 steel columns. The columns were generally constructed in two-story segments. One- to three-story-tall column segments were used on the basements, first floor, and 14th through 16th floors. Rafters supported the mansard roof of the base, excluding the tower. Milliken Brothers Inc. was the structural steel supplier for

25181-540: Was at the northeastern corner. From the basement, a corridor extended east to the safe deposit vaults. There were 10 vaults used by the Safe Deposit Company of New York, within a space of 10,000 square feet (930 m). The vaults each contained several thousand safe deposit boxes , and the vault walls were formed of several layers of steel. The door to the largest vault weighed over 16 short tons (14 long tons; 15 t). The vaults abutted three committee rooms for

25350-599: Was better than that of Americans. The tower's superstructure was intended to withstand wind pressure of 30 pounds per square foot (1.4 kPa), even though the highest recorded wind pressure in the neighborhood was less than 10 pounds per square foot (0.48 kPa) at the time of the Singer Building's construction. The internal structure also used 4,520 short tons (4,040 long tons; 4,100 t) of Portland cement and 300,000 square feet (28,000 m) of concrete subflooring. The Singer Building's floors generally used terracotta flat arches 10 inches (250 mm) deep, and many of

25519-439: Was built during the same time. The columns required to support the Singer Tower would have been too large to place atop the original Singer Building, so they were instead built in the northern portion of the lot. The tower had a height-to-width ratio of 7:1, setting a record at the time of its completion. The facade was made of red brick, light-colored stone, and terracotta . Some 733,000 square feet (68,100 m) of terracotta

25688-483: Was clad with stone and had a balcony doubling as a cornice , while the facade on the eighth story was made of brick. The original top stories comprised a decorative copper-and-slate roof with dormers and stone chimneys. The main entrance was on Liberty Street and had sculptures and ornament. The Bourne Building was faced with Indiana Limestone on its lowest two stories and red brick above. The base had ironwork ornamentation in their mullions and window railings. After

25857-528: 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

26026-478: Was designed with elements of the Beaux-Arts style and the French Second Empire style . American architect George W. Conable prepared plans and working drawings. An architectural office with an engineering department led by Otto F. Semsch, and mechanical equipment engineer consultants Charles G. Armstrong and steel engineers Boller & Hodge, oversaw construction. Over 40 other companies were involved in

26195-545: 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

26364-464: Was finished with Pavonazzo marble and had 42 short tons (38 long tons; 38 t) of bronze work. New York Times architectural writer Christopher Gray characterized the lobby as exuding "celestial radiance". Two rows of eight square marble piers trimmed with bronze beading supported the lobby ceiling. Each pier was made of Pavonazzo marble and had a border of Montarenti Sienna marble. There were large bronze medallions atop each pier, depicting either

26533-481: Was hired to design a westward annex to the Bourne Building and a northward annex to the original Singer Building. The Bourne and Singer buildings were to be united internally, and the old Singer Building was to be expanded to 14 stories. The top story of the Bourne Building would also be expanded so that it would cover the same area as the Bourne Building's lower floors. Plans for the Bourne and Singer extensions were filed in late 1906 and early 1907, respectively. During

26702-427: 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

26871-434: 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

27040-523: Was made of brick masonry ranging in thickness from 12 inches (300 mm) at the top to 40 inches (1,000 mm) at the base. The Singer Tower contained five bays on each side, each measuring 12 feet (3.7 m) wide. Construction plans show that there were 36 windows on each floor. The faces of the tower were made of dark red brick, except for decorative elements such as trimmings, copings , courses , and windowsills , which were made of North River bluestone. On each side, vertical limestone piers separated

27209-516: Was made of brick, stone, and terracotta . A dome with a lantern capped the tower. The foundation of the tower was excavated using caissons ; the building's base rested on shallower foundations. The Singer Building used a steel skeleton , though load-bearing walls initially supported the original structure before modification. When completed, the 41-story building had a marble - clad entrance lobby, 16 elevators, 410,000 square feet (38,000 m) of office space, and an observation deck . With

27378-400: Was more than twice as expensive as a conventional foundation would have cost for a building of the Singer Tower's size. The original plan was for the caissons to be sunk only 20 feet (6.1 m) deep, but the builders changed plans midway through the excavations, so that the caissons would go to hardpan. The original portions of the building were built on grillages 24 feet (7.3 m) below

27547-417: Was one of the centers of early skyscraper construction and had a history as 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

27716-408: 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

27885-442: Was placed atop the caisson piers. Because of the design of the tower addition's wind-bracing superstructure, the upward pull on some of the piers was greater than the dead load these piers carried. As a result, eyebars of different lengths were embedded in 10 of the caissons, the concrete being poured onto the eyebars. The rods were embedded 50 feet (15 m) into the caisson piers. The system, devised in house by Flagg's office,

28054-459: 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

28223-429: Was the world's tallest building at the time of its completion and the world's tallest building to be destroyed upon its demolition. Contemporary sources at the time of the building's construction described the "Singer Tower" as referring only to the building's tower portion, rather than its base. The "Singer Building" name originally referred only to a portion of the base, although by the mid–20th century it referred to

28392-525: Was used extensively for the walls and ceilings. The usable office space in the building totaled 410,000 square feet (38,000 m; 9.4 acres). The Singer Building took water from the New York City water supply system , where it was filtered through ammonia coils and then through two filters into two suction tanks. Inside the Singer Building, there were seven water tanks to serve a projected demand of 15,000 U.S. gallons (57,000 L) each hour. Three tanks on

28561-403: Was used for both the facade and the interior partitions. About five million bricks were used in the entire project, including one million in the tower section. About 1,500 cubic feet (42 m) of North River bluestone was also used, as was 4,280,000 pounds (1,940,000 kg) of limestone , mainly above the 33rd floor. The contractors for these materials included John B. Rose Company for

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