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    New York City Skyscrapers
    New York City Skyscrapers
    New York City Skyscrapers
    Ebook275 pages1 hour

    New York City Skyscrapers

    By Richard Panchyk

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    About this ebook

    New York City Skyscrapers celebrates the numerous awe-inspiring buildings that have made New York the skyscraper capital of the world. This book traces the history of New York s tallest structures from the late 19th century, when church spires ruled the skyline, through the 20th century, when a succession of amazing buildings soared to new heights. From the Flatiron and Woolworth Buildings to the Chrysler and Empire State Buildings, the skyscrapers of New York have long captured the imagination of people around the world.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherArcadia Publishing
    Release dateJun 7, 2010
    ISBN9781439638620
    New York City Skyscrapers

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      New York City Skyscrapers - Richard Panchyk

      indicated.

      INTRODUCTION

      This book tells the remarkable and fascinating story of New York’s tallest buildings through picture postcards, from the earliest days when the spires of Trinity Church, St. Patrick’s Cathedral, and others were the tallest structures in sight, all the way through the 1980s when the Twin Towers ruled the skyline.

      It was a unique combination of factors that came into play at the end of the 19th century to allow the construction of buildings taller than a few stories. The use of structural steel to frame buildings was one factor. It allowed for much greater flexibility than stone or wood. Another factor was more efficient excavation techniques allowing the deep trenches necessary for tall building foundations. The invention of the elevator in the 1850s was a major factor. Office workers or apartment dwellers could not be expected to climb more than five or six flights of stairs. The elevator meant the people could quickly and effortlessly be shuttled to any floor, no matter how high above the ground. And finally, the availability of huge amounts of capital from large corporations and wealthy investors was also important.

      Since the construction of the first true skyscrapers in the late 1880s, New York’s tall buildings have captured the imagination of residents and visitors alike. As technology improved and ambition increased, New York remained at the forefront of skyscraper construction with the construction of one memorable building after another.

      These new buildings were truly modern marvels in many ways. According to the New York City Standard Guide for 1901: An office building is a city in itself, with its railway in the elevators, its water system, fire extinguishing apparatus on every floor, light, heat and power plants; post office and telegraph office, uniformed police force, restaurant, shops and a population running into the thousands. The tenant may supply his manifold wants without going from under the roof. He has at command telegraph, telephone and messenger service, and mails his letters in the mail chute, which extends through all the floors, carrying the letters to the mail box at the bottom, where the mail is collected by the postmen. He may lunch in the restaurant on one floor, take out a life insurance policy on another, cash his checks at his bank on a third, and put his valuables in safe-deposit in the basement. He may consult his physician, his broker or his lawyer; visit his tailor or shoeblack or barber; and buy his cigars, and paper, theater tickets, and flowers and a box of candy for his best girl.

      Within 10 years of the Park Row Building (391 feet high, completed in 1899), the Singer Building (612 feet high, completed in 1908) rose to amazing new heights. The Woolworth Building (792 feet high) followed soon after. In fact, the Woolworth Building, financed by the dime store millionaire himself, was the tallest building in the world for 17 years.

      By the late 1920s in Manhattan, soaring new office buildings of 300–500 feet in height were commonplace, as the population of the city increased dramatically. Also new to the skyline were massive hotels, such as the 40-floor Sherry-Netherland, the 43-floor Essex House, the 43-story Hotel New Yorker with its 23 elevators, and the towering 47-floor (and 625-foot-high) Waldorf-Astoria. During the period between 1930 and 1940, though in the midst of the Great Depression, New York builders went ever higher, adding several more instantly beloved landmarks, including the art deco masterpiece Chrysler Building (for a few months the tallest building in the world), the towering Empire State Building (for decades the world’s tallest building), and the impressive Rockefeller Center complex.

      New York remained not only the skyscraper capital of the country, but also the skyscraper capital of the world for many years. As of 1950, in fact, 18 of the 20 tallest buildings in the world were located in New York City. During the years that followed, major skyscrapers began to spring up all around the world. As of the writing of this book, New York’s tallest building, the Empire State Building, comes in at No. 14 among the tallest buildings in the world; 12 of the 13 buildings ahead of it on the list were completed after 1997.

      Nonetheless, no other city can match the rich history, the incredible beauty, and the sheer number of skyscrapers that can be found in New York.

      New York City postcards were issued for two basic reasons—to show off an impressive, pretty, or distinctive building or vista, or to serve as advertising and promotion for hotels, restaurants, and other establishments. Postcards are one of the most effective ways to promote tourism, and New York City postcards wound up in all corners of the world. Many people also collected postcards from all the places they visited, never intending to mail them. This book is meant to be a pictorial history of New York City’s skyscrapers, but it is by no means a comprehensive representation of every important skyscraper in the city’s history. I have tried to represent many of the major New York City skyscrapers built between 1885 and 1940.

      The dates of the postcards, when given, are approximate. They usually represent the date of the postmark or sometimes the copyright date of the image. Often a date can be estimated based on the buildings shown in the image, though postcard publishers have been known to print cards in advance of a building’s completion. A more general method of dating postcards is by their type. The earliest postcards featured undivided

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