25 Facts About Woolworth Building

Woolworth Building is bounded by Broadway and City Hall Park to its east, Park Place to its north, and Barclay Street to its south.

The Woolworth Building had originally been planned as a 12- to 16-story commercial building but underwent several revisions during its planning process.

The Woolworth Building has been a National Historic Landmark since 1966, and a New York City designated landmark since 1983.

Woolworth, who had devised the idea for the Woolworth Building, had proposed to Gilbert that the Victoria Tower could be a model for the building.

Woolworth Building was designed to be 420 feet high but was eventually raised to 792 feet .

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The Woolworth Building was 60 stories tall when completed in 1913, though this consisted of 53 usable floors topped by several mechanical floors.

Above that, the exterior of the Woolworth Building was cast in limestone-colored, glazed architectural terracotta panels.

Wind bracing, the entire Woolworth Building was considered as a vertical cantilever, and correspondingly large girders and columns were used in the construction.

Basement of the Woolworth Building contains an unused bank vault, restaurant, and barbershop.

Woolworth Building's office included a mahogany desk with a leather top measuring 7.

Woolworth Building contains a system of high-speed elevators capable of traveling 650 feet or 700 feet per minute.

Woolworth Building decided against it because of the prestige that a Broadway address provided .

Woolworth Building wanted his new structure to be of similar design to the Palace of Westminster in London, which was designed in the Gothic style.

However, Woolworth then wanted to surpass the nearby New York World Building, which sat on the other side of City Hall Park and stood 20 stories and 350 feet .

Woolworth Building then ordered Gilbert to revise the building's design to reach 710 or 712 feet, despite ongoing worries over whether the additional height would be worth the increased cost.

Woolworth Building purchased two lots to the west, one on Park Place and one on Barclay Street; these lots would not be developed, but would retain their low-rise buildings and preserve the proposed tower's views.

On completion, the Woolworth Building topped the record set by the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company Tower as the world's tallest building, a distinction it held until 1930.

Woolworth Building removed some decorative flying buttresses near the tower's crown and refaced four tourelles in aluminum because of damage.

The lobby reopened to public tours in 2014, when Woolworth Building Tours started accommodating groups for 30- to 90-minute tours.

The Woolworth Building was almost always fully occupied because of its central location in Lower Manhattan, as well as its direct connections to two subway stations.

Inventor Nikola Tesla occupied an office in the Woolworth Building beginning in 1914; he was evicted after a year because he could not pay his rent.

Woolworth Building's office took up the entire fourteenth floor and was heavily guarded.

In 1916, Fordham created "Fordham Downtown" at the Woolworth Building by moving the School of Sociology and Social Service and the School of Law to the building.

Woolworth Building has had a large impact in architectural spheres, and has been featured in many works of popular culture, including photographs, prints, films, and literature.

The Woolworth Building has appeared in works of literature, such as Langston Hughes's 1926 poem "Negro" and the 2007 novel Peak.

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