Status Demolished Completed 1890 Height 94 m, 106 m to tip Opened 10 December 1890 Construction started 1889 | Type Commercial offices Demolished 1955 Floors 20 Destruction date 1955 Architect George B. Post | |
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Alternative names Pulitzer Building
World Building
The World Building Location 99 Park Row
New York City, New York Similar Park Row Building, Singer Building, Manhattan Life Insurance, New York Tribune Building, Metropolitan Life Tower | ||
The New York World Building was a skyscraper in New York City designed by early skyscraper specialist George Browne Post and built in 1890 to house the now-defunct newspaper, The New York World. It was razed in 1955.
History
Construction of the New York World Building began October 10, 1889, at 53-63 Park Row, on the corner of Park Row and the now-closed Frankfort Street. The building was completed December 10, 1890 and claimed a height of 20 stories, comparable to 16 or 18 stories by current standards. The New York World Building was also known as the Pulitzer Building after the paper's owner, Joseph Pulitzer (1847-1911), who commissioned it. Pulitzer's private office was on the second level of the dome and looked down on other buildings along the street.
During the 19th century, many high-rise buildings were constructed by newspaper companies along Park Row, immediately east of the old New York City Hall. This developed into a competition and a race for the tallest. Other contenders included the Tribune Building designed by Richard Morris Hunt (1876), the Potter Building (1886), the Park Row Building (1899), and two other buildings by George Post, the St. Paul Building (1895–1898), and the old Times Building (1889).
The New York World Building was the winner of this competition and the tallest building in New York City for about five years. It was the city's first building to surpass the 284-foot spire of Trinity Church which, at the time, dominated the city's skyline. It was also featured on the cover of the World Almanac from 1890 to 1934.
The building was owned at one time by Negro league baseball executive Nat Strong.
The World Building was demolished in 1955 for the expanded car ramp entrance to the Brooklyn Bridge. A large stained glass window by Otto Heinigke (1850-1915), combining the Statue of Liberty and the New York World banner, which had been installed over the William Street entrance to the building in 1908 (The World had helped raise funds from the public for the statue's pedestal), was bought by a group headed by a Columbia journalism professor when the building was condemned in 1953. The window is now in Room 305 of the Columbia University School of Journalism, where it serves as the backdrop for many events, including the annual presentation of the Pulitzer Prizes.
