The Singer Building was an early skyscraper in Manhattan, New York City. The headquarters of the Singer Manufacturing Company, it was at the corner of Liberty Street and Broadway in the Financial District. Architect Ernest Flagg designed it in multiple phases from 1897 to 1907, with elements of the French Beaux-Arts and Second Empire styles. When completed in 1908, the building had a marble-clad lobby, 16 elevators, 410,000 square feet (38,000 m2) of office space, and an observation deck. With 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. Although regarded as a city icon, the Singer Building was razed between 1967 and 1969 to make way for One Liberty Plaza. At the time of its destruction, the Singer Building was the tallest building ever to be demolished. (Full article...)