F. w. Woolworth Company Essay

Submitted By Bellesiris
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Bell

Woolworth Building
Woolworth building is one of the most recognizable building in New York since 1913. It has been one of the very first skyscraper and the tallest building in the world for seventeen years until the
Chrysler building was built. However, with 57 stories, the building is still one of the tallest in United states. It was built with a reminiscent of old Gothic cathedrals by architect Cass Gilbert. It set on 233
Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, right across from City Hall. It is well­known for its charming interior design such as its spectacular lobby, which decorate with Greek Marble, mosaics, murals, bronze and a stunning soaring skylight. Moreover, many real estate agents has been competitively snatching to buy this building in a very high value.

The Woolworth Building was designed by architect Cass Gilbert which his first intention was to designed it in the neo­Gothic style. The woolworth building was commissioned by Frank Woolworth, the founder of the Woolworth Company. in 1910 it was first design to be a 20 stories office building as a new headquarter for Woolworth Company on Broadway, between Park Place and Barclay Street opposite to the City Hall. The original design was suppose to be 420 ft high, but as its opening the woolworth building was a 792 ft high with 60 floors and over 5,000 windows. The price for the construction reached up to 13.5 million US dollars.

The exterior of the building was cast in limestone­colored, glazed terra­cotta panels. The building also have a strong articulated piers, carried without disturbing the cornices, right to the

pyramidal cap making the building upward thrust. The decorative elements are in a visible scale that people can read it from hundred feets belows. There were so many decorative elements and a massive caissons that penetrate the bedrock so that engineers Gunvald Aus and Kort Berle designed a steel frame to support it.. They also design a high­speed elevator to go along with the building’s elegacy. The interior space of the lobby is quoted to be “one