Singer Building

Identification

Map

Structure in general

Usage

Facts

• The Singer Building was constructed from September 1906 to May 1908.
• Plans to enlarge the Singer Company headquarters at Broadway and Liberty Street in lower Manhattan began in 1902 when the sewing machine company purchased properties to the north and west.
• A former design by architect Flagg was a thirty-five story tower, but the Singer company soon decided to nearly double that height with a tower of almost 600 feet.
• The tower was clad in red brick and bluestone.
• One of the reasons the tower was demolished is that it was viewed as obsolete and unprofitable, with its floorplates measuring only 19.5 meters across.
• Tallest building ever to be demolished by a company. Replaced by One Liberty Plaza, originally known as the U.S. Steel Building.
• World's tallest building from 1908 - 1909; surpassed by the Metropolitan Life Tower.