90 year anniversary of the Woolworth building

Ninety years ago, when men wore straw boater hats and horse-drawn carriages outnumbered automobiles on New York streets, metropolitan architecture reached new heights with the perfection of the skyscraper. Indeed, visitors to Lower Manhattan today can still easily see why historians call the neighborhood the skyscraper's "ancestral home." But in 1913, one element of the skyline in particular stood out for its unique fusion of Gothic style and early 20th-century design mastery: the Woolworth Building.

Architect Cass Gilbert began to design the Woolworth Building (233 Broadway) in 1910, envisioning a mélange of features rarely, if ever, put together anywhere, in any era. Its copper spires, terra-cotta skin, stained-glass windows, and cast-iron trim evoked England's Houses of Parliament and France's Chartres Cathedral. Yet Gilbert also made it one of the safest structures in the city, if not the world, by reinforcing the 24-inch-thick walls with layers of concrete-coated steel inside brick and fireproof plaster. (In other words, the building does not sway in strong winds.)

Entrance to the Woolworth Building

The architectural magnum opus was designed for Frank Woolworth not to house one of his famous five-and-dime stores, but rather to serve as his company's world headquarters following its consolidation with the last of its competitors. "I decided to erect a building that would advertise the Woolworth five-and-10 cent stores all over the world," the retail magnate explained in a 1913 interview.

At first, Woolworth planned to erect a standard 16-story building. But once his attention turned to the impressive towers of the Pulitzer Building (Park Row near City Hall Park), the Singer Building (Broadway and Liberty Street), and the Metropolitan Life Insurance building (1 Madison Avenue), he repeatedly instructed Gilbert to heighten the tower. The end product rose 792 feet -- not simply 242 feet taller than originally planned, but in fact the tallest building in the world at the time.

The Woolworth Building used to open their observation deck to share this view

Suskin can tell you practically everything there is to know about Woolworth's "Cathedral of Commerce" -- so named because of its extraordinary Gothic ornamentation. He is quick to point out that the tower's observation deck closed in 1945, the victim of competition from the newer Empire State Building. The rest of the landmark building was closed to the public recently for security reasons, and now hundreds of curious visitors are turned away each day.

Beautiful mosaic interiors

Tucked further inside the building is a 55-foot-long swimming pool -- which, Suskin assures, was for a health club housed in the building, not for Woolworth's own pool parties.

Ornate terra-cotta details surround the windows

"The building is a marvel in many directions," says John Stubbs, vice president of the World Monuments Fund. "It's a prime example of wit in architecture, and it was clearly crafted with extreme care."

But décor was only part of the program for Gilbert, who masterminded endless practical details as well. "Gilbert was a much better architect than people give him credit for," says Suskin, who notes that the $13.5 million Woolworth paid for the building -- in cash, no less -- went to highly functional ends.

The building, for example, was the first to house its own steam turbines, enabling it to self-sufficiently heat all 60 stories. It also opened with all of its 30 elevators powered internally, each fast enough to meet today's standards. And because air conditioning did not exist in 1913, Woolworth, whose company headquarters occupied floors 24 and 25, also stipulated to Gilbert that every office must be no more than 10 feet from a window.

The Woolworth Building's cathedral-like spire

Suskin has worked to return the Woolworth Building to its original splendor since he took the reigns in 1998. "It's unlikely they will ever build a building like this ever again," he says. "We're doing everything we can to make sure it's restored carefully, and as true to its original form as possible."

In addition to replacing loose or damaged terra-cotta tiles with more sturdy and visually similar cast concrete, Suskin's primary goal has been to renovate the building's street-level storefronts so they are consistent with the building's original styling and color. And after scraping off 14 different layers of paint and reviewing hundreds of old photos, he's finally making progress -- which explains why the scaffolding wrapped around the building's ground level remains since its installation after 9/11.

The Woolworth Building towers over Lower Manhattan