The Woolworth Building is the ideal of a neo-Gothic skyscraper. Built in 1913, the skyscraper has been hailed as the ‘Cathedral of Commerce’ and its terracotta ornamentation surpasses even those of the art déco era in its beauty. This pioneer among New York’s skyscrapers is inspired by English Victorian architecture and soaring Gothic cathedrals. Most remarkably, for almost 20 years the Woolworth Building was the tallest building in the world, with the edifice rising to 241 metres.
Race into the clouds
At the end of the 19th century, pioneering architects such as Louis Sullivan and William Le Baron Jenney blazed a trail in the construction of solid, ornate high-rise buildings based on a steel frame. Sullivan’s important project was the richly ornamented Guaranty Building, which you can read about HERE. The beginning of the next century involved a sharp leap in the construction of New York’s skyscrapers. Year after year, Lower Manhattan became more and more overgrown with new non-biotic buildings, and in 1908. Singer Building topped the height of Philadelphia’s City Hall tower. From this rush for bigger and bigger buildings emerged the leader, which was the Woolworth Building, completed in 1913. Woolworth Building.
The main investor in the skyscraper was Frank Winfield Woolworth, founder of the now defunct Woolworth’s chain of department stores. Although today the only significant offshoot of the entrepreneur’s business is the Foot Locker chain of shops, at the beginning of the 20th century Woolworth was one of the richest men in town and his shops conquered America with their affordable prices. His company needed an impressive new headquarters to underline the brand’s success. A businessman of such class could afford anything, so Woolworth paid the full price of the investment in cash, without any credit.
Woolworth pitched the idea of a skyscraper to respected architect Cass Gilbert. This man already had an impressive portfolio of historicist designs, which were awash with beautiful detailing and massive forms. Gilbert’s designs included the Beaux-Arts-style Minnesota State Capitol and a nearly 100-metre-high neo-Gothic apartment building in New York. At first, the architect did not envisage a building that would tower over the entire city. However, the developer wanted the headquarters of his empire to surpass not only the nearby New York World Building, but also the Singer Building and the Met Life Tower – the two tallest buildings in the world at the time. Little did the businessman want a building similar to the Victorian Palace of Westminster.
Per aspera ad astra
Over the following months of 1910, Gilbert’s project grew ever more ambitious… and Woolworth’s ego. The businessman was annoyed by the fact that it was the Singer Building that was the celebrated symbol of New York, so only by puncturing its height could the Woolworth Building become a new icon. As late as the beginning of 1911, the building was still to measure 191 m, and by April of the same year, the architect officially announced that the Woolworth headquarters would reach 241 m in height. Every now and then, the architect had to make dozens of adjustments, as working with the businessman was not easy. On the other hand, Gilbert valued Woolworth’s sense and taste, who advised him on the decorations.
Construction proceeded at a rapid pace. Workers were putting up 1.5 storeys a week and the whole thing was completed ahead of schedule. 17,000 tonnes of steel were used in the construction, which forms the skeleton of the building. Interestingly, steel was also used in the construction of the foundations, based on caissons. These metal boxes make it easier to work on waterlogged ground and further position the pillars. The specialists responsible for the stability of the Brooklyn Bridge and other structural wonders of New York worked on the engineering of the building. Woolworth hired the best specialists because there could be no room for outdated solutions and mistakes with such a tall building.
Chair of commerce
The façade of the building faces City Hall Park and is divided into three segments with a massive tower positioned in the middle. At the base, the limestone is noticeable, which is combined with a white and grey terracotta puzzle. More than 400,000 terracotta decorations made by the Atlantic Terra Cotta Company were applied to the steel framework. The mass-produced tiles were created after agreeing with the architect on hundreds of minor designs. An English Tudor arch with Gothic carvings, ornamented with spandrels and sumptuous frogs and masquerades was placed above the main entrance. Almost every element of the façade is covered with rich, prefabricated ornamentation. One can even get lost in the lascivious niches, friezes and, above all, symbolic sculptures. The artists have placed animal sculptures depicting owls and other birds as well as floral patterns on the façade. It is important to bear in mind the symbolism of the building as a whole, i.e. ‘cathedral of commerce’ or ‘temple of capitalism’. The spandrels thus feature the Roman god of commerce, or Mercury, and the goddess of agriculture, or Ceres.
The sumptuous decorations do not stop at all at the close-to-home ground floor, and the next dozens of floors are decorated with ever more interesting ornaments. Around the 28th floor, canopies appear along with openwork attics. Interestingly, the ornamentation above the windows in the form of masquerades and arches in the form of a donkey’s back is maintained for almost the entire height of the building. Gargoyles are also noticeable at the corners.
This neo-Gothic masterpiece culminates in a tower with an octagonal lantern on top. The roof is flanked by four turrets, which were formerly decorated with florals with gargoyles in the shape of dog’s heads. Nowadays, the unstable construction of the turrets does not allow the installation of heavy terracotta ornaments. Further up, dormer windows have been placed on the rising steep roof and there is a viewing terrace at the very top. The terrace sections are separated by buttress arches. It is also worth mentioning that the façade of the top floor is decorated with wimpergas, or triangular trims above the windows.
Byzantine icons
Stepping inside is tantamount to entering a temple of money, commerce and wealth. Surprisingly, the neo-Gothic cathedral inside hides Byzantine interiors. Of course, there are frogs and masquerades on the Greek marble walls anyway, but the mosaics of the ceiling play the main role. The pleated vaulted ceiling leads up to a dome with sails, which is all lined with coloured pieces of glass. The tiles are arranged in floral and animal patterns. As this is a ‘temple’, an icon of the goddess of commerce has been placed on one of the walls.
The corridors lead to the lifts and the decoration is reminiscent of a mix of Renaissance and Gothic. The wooden coffers are supported by carved brackets. Some of them are really interesting as they depict Frank Woolworth, Cass Gilbert, general contractor Horowitz, friendly bank owner Lewis Pierson and several architects. The grotesque sculptures show attributes of each figure, e.g. Woolworth clutching a coin or Gilbert holding an entire skyscraper in his hands. Behind the lifts is a large staircase with a Renaissance atrium and coffers. Interestingly, the staircase formerly led to Pierson’s bank. From every nook and cranny of the lobby oozes the opulence familiar from the Beaux-Arts, in which Gilbert excelled.
The high-speed lifts are also worth mentioning. Their decorations were made by the iconic Tiffany studio from New York. The artists decorated the lift doors with arabesques and other floral patterns.
The offices on the upper floors were not so richly decorated, a result of the architect’s practical approach. Since it was to be a utilitarian space, open to change, Byzantine ornamentation was not needed there. The case was different for Woolworth’s personal study. The room was decorated in the French Imperial style and all the walls were lined with green marble. The businessman set up a bust of Napoleon and several portraits of the French Emperor in his room. In time, however, Woolworth inserted his own likeness in place of Napoleon’s portrait.
A beautiful reminder of a beautiful era
In 1913, the businessman organised a lavish opening to which he invited many celebrities of the time. President Woodrow Wilson himself pushed the button to turn on the lights in the skyscraper. The architecture of the building appealed to the press, which was impressed by the scale of the project. Tens of miles of pipes, cables, 12 miles of marble parapets and many other impressive figures were written about. The building boasted its own steam power generator and several large boilers that heated the entire skyscraper. What’s more, Otis’s electric lifts were capable of speeding up to 210 m/min. At night, the whole of the Woolworth tower was illuminated by nitrogen lamps.
Woolworth died in 1919 and his successors sold the building due to financial problems. His company continued to operate in various forms until 1997, and today there are still several independent regional branches around the world. Today, neither the entrepreneur nor his empire may be gone, but the skyscraper signed with Woolworth’s name still stands today and is one of the most beautiful examples of American Neo-Gothic architecture. This rather short-lived era in New York architecture was pushed out in time by art déco, but Cass Gilbert continued to design in his style until the 1930s. Interestingly, the building’s record height was exceeded by more than 40 metres by 40 Wall Street in 1930. It is worth noting that the building survived the demolition of its equally iconic neighbours. The Singer Building ceased to exist in 1968 and the New York World Building was demolished as recently as 1955. Fortunately, the iconic New York City landmark was listed as a historic building in 1966, so it survived and even lived to see its falling terracotta tiles repaired. Today, the building houses luxury flats.
The rich and the destitute
As a matter of curiosity, one can still mention the building’s famous residents and tenants. Woolworth’s offices were home to the headquarters of major railway and music corporations, as well as arms companies such as Colt and Remington. Scientific American rented offices in the building a few years after it opened, and on top of that, a university also found its place in the skyscraper. Nikola Tesla lived there for a year, but was thrown out of the flat after a year because of unpaid rent.
Source: Cass Gilbert Society
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