Singer Building

This article is about the former building in New York City. For other uses, see Singer Building (disambiguation).

Singer Building
Map
Record height
Tallest in the world from 1908 to 1909[I]
Preceded byPhiladelphia City Hall
Surpassed byMetropolitan Life Insurance Company Tower
General information
StatusDemolished
TypeCommercial offices
Architectural styleBeaux-Arts and French Second Empire
Location149 Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, New York
Coordinates40°42′35″N 74°00′39″W / 40.70972°N 74.01083°W / 40.70972; -74.01083
Construction started1897; 127 years ago (1897)
Completed
  • 1898 (Singer Building)
  • 1899 (Bourne Building)
Renovated1906–1908
Demolished1967–1969; 55 years ago (1969)
Height
Tip674 ft (205 m)
Roof612 ft (187 m)
Top floor41
Technical details
Floor count41 (+1 below ground)
Lifts/elevators16
Design and construction
Architect(s)Ernest Flagg
DeveloperSinger Manufacturing Company
Engineer
  • Boller & Hodge (steel engineers)
  • Charles G. Armstrong (mechanical engineers)

The Singer Building (also known as the Singer Tower)[a] was an office building and early skyscraper in Manhattan, New York City. The headquarters of the Singer Manufacturing Company, was at the northwestern corner of Liberty Street and Broadway in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan. Frederick Gilbert Bourne, leader of the Singer Company, commissioned the building, which architect Ernest Flagg designed in multiple phases from 1897 to 1908. The building's architecture contained elements of the Beaux-Arts and French Second Empire styles.

The building was composed of four distinct sections. The original 10-story Singer Building at 149 Broadway was erected between 1897 and 1898, and the adjoining 14-story Bourne Building on Liberty Street was built from 1898 to 1899. In the first decade of the 20th century, the two buildings were expanded to form the 14-story base of the Singer Tower, which rose another 27 stories. The facade was made of brick, stone, and terracotta. A dome with a lantern capped the tower. The foundation of the tower was excavated using caissons; the building's base rested on shallower foundations. The Singer Building used a steel skeleton, though load-bearing walls initially supported the original structure before modification. When completed, the 41-story building had a marble-clad entrance 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. Despite being regarded as a city icon, the Singer Building was razed between 1967 and 1969 to make way for One Liberty Plaza, which had several times more office space than the Singer Tower. At the time of its destruction, the Singer Building was the tallest building ever to be demolished by its owners, a distinction it held until 2019.

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  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference HABS p. 89 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).


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