New York World Building

New York World Building

The New York World Building was the tallest building in New York City at the time of its completion in 1890. It was designed by George B. Post in the Renaissance Revival style and was the headquarters of the World. The building was demolished between 1955 and 1956 to make room for an expanded entrance ramp to the Brooklyn Bridge. A large stained glass window and the building’s cornerstone were preserved by the Columbia University School of Journalism.

About New York World Building in brief

Summary New York World BuildingThe New York World Building was the tallest building in New York City at the time of its completion in 1890. It was designed by George B. Post in the Renaissance Revival style and was the headquarters of the World. The building was demolished between 1955 and 1956 to make room for an expanded entrance ramp to the Brooklyn Bridge. A large stained glass window and the building’s cornerstone were preserved by the Columbia University School of Journalism. The World Building consisted of a tower with twelve full stories, topped by a six-story dome. When the tower opened in 1890, the World Building’s dome had a height of 310 feet and a spire of 350 feet, though this calculation was measured from the eastern end of the Frankfort Street frontage, rather than the main frontage on Park Row. The flat roof was 191 feet above sidewalk level, becoming the first to rise higher than Trinity Church’s 284-foot spire, and was also the world’s tallest building when the spire was counted. The actual number of stories in the building was disputed, with some accounts counting the building as having 26 stories and others counting the tower as having 14, including the mezzanine and a penthouse above the twelfth story of the tower. When the World closed in 1931, it was used as headquarters of The Journal of Commerce, and later as the offices of The New York Times. It is also known as the Pulitzer Building, after Joseph Pulitzer, the owner and developer of the building, who had been thrown out of the French’s Hotel during the American Civil War.

The original portion of the New YorkWorld Building was completed in 1890 and designed byGeorge B. Post. The annex covered a lot of 7,500 square feet, giving the building a total lot area of 18,496 square feet. After an annex eastward to North William Street was completed in 1908, the building took up the entire city block and had a frontage of 85 feet along North William St. The building initially occupied a roughly parallelogram-shaped land lot with frontages of 115 feet on ParkRow to the northwest and 136 feet on Frankfort St to the south. It abutted the Brooklyn bridge to the north and other buildings to the east; the lot originally had a cut-out on the northeastern corner so that theBrooklyn Bridge side was shorter than theFrankfort Street side. Immediately to theSouth of the site was the New New York Tribune Building, which was built in 1848. The lot was developed after the lots were acquired by one John Simpson in1848. At the time, he was a recent Hungarian immigrant who had volunteered to serve in the Union Army’s cavalry. He was the owner of the hotel, and had served in the Civil War as a soldier. The hotel had been developed after John Simpson’s son John Simpson had bought the lots in 1847. The property was the site of the former French’s hotel, which had been built in the late 1800s.