It was big doings, front-page stuff, the night the Woolworth Building first lit up the sky over Lower Manhattan. Reporters were dispatched Downtown and to the White House, where then-President Woodrow Wilson signaled the building’s engineers to turn the lights on—all 80,000 of them.
The 60-story skyscraper, the second tallest structure on earth after the Eiffel Tower, had been under construction for two-and-a-half years on Broadway at Park Place. It was a block long, and architecturally magnificent—just the skyline spectacle that five-and-dime store magnate Frank Winfield Woolworth had in mind.
The iconic skyscraper had initially been conceived as a humble 20-story office building. Credit goes to Woolworth and architect Cass Gilbert for dismissing early designs and, instead, striving to create a monument.
The remarkable evolution of the building, from early concepts to construction to conservation, is explored in the exhibit “The Woolworth Building @ 100,” now at the Skyscraper Museum. (The building turns 100 this year.) The exhibit includes original sketches, construction plans, cost estimates and early photographs.
“When Cass Gilbert asked how high the building could go, I told him about 750 feet,” a giddy Woolworth told reporters the night it opened in 1913. “He wanted to know if that was the limit. I told him it was the minimum.”
The skyscraper ultimately topped out at 792 feet. The height was a marvel and a novelty at the time. More notable today is the skyscraper’s ornate design, including its gargoyles and other Gothic features. The steel-frame tower was finished with millions of pounds of sculpted terra-cotta. The story of how that fired clay was designed and installed, and the long struggle to preserve its ornamental features, is a highlight of the exhibit.
Contractor Thompson-Starrett, pioneers in building skyscrapers, managed the construction of the Woolworth Building. The exhibit illustrates the 29-month process, from the foundation work to the installation of the spire.
Woolworth oversaw every detail of the building’s construction, including the palatial lobby—finished with marble and mosaics and high, vaulted ceilings and arches—that give the place the feel of a cathedral (“the Cathedral of Commerce,” Woolworth called it).
Woolworth was enamored with more than just the methods and materials that went into the construction of his building. The skyscraper, which he financed with his own hard-won fortune, was meant to stand as a symbol of his thrift, industry and success.
“The business from which this building has grown began with a five-cent piece,” he boasted.
It was also impossible to overlook advertisement for the F. W. Woolworth Company chain of stores.
The building’s likeness became a logo that was imprinted on all of the store’s merchandise and souvenirs, such as paperweights, building replicas, spoons and postcards. They were like icons of urban modernity and, in a way, advertisements for the city itself. Some of these icons, and other works inspired by the century-old skyscraper, can be found in the museum’s exhibit and, for those who like keepsakes, in the gift shop.
“The Woolworth Building @ 100” to 7/14 at the Skyscraper Museum, 39 Battery Pl. 12–6 p.m., Wed–Sun. $5; $2.50 students and seniors. skyscraper.org.