Singer Building

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Coordinates: 40°42.58361704665177′N, 74°0.6489372253417969′W

Singer Building
Singer Building was the world's tallest building from 1908 to 1909.*
Preceded by	Philadelphia City Hall
Surpassed by	Metropolitan Life Insurance Company Tower
Information
Location	New York City, USA
Status	Demolished
Constructed	1908
Demolished	1968
Technical details
Floor count	47
*Fully habitable, self-supported, from main entrance to highest structural or architectural top; see the list of tallest buildings in the world for other listings.

The Singer Building at Liberty Street and Broadway in Manhattan, New York was an office building completed in 1908 as the headquarters of the Singer Manufacturing Company.

The building's architect, Ernest Flagg, was a supporter of height limitations and restrictive zoning, and showed his solution to tall building crowding with the Singer's set-back design. The 12-story base of the building filled an entire blockfront, while the tower above was very narrow.

At 612 ft (187 m) above grade, the Singer Building was the tallest building in the world from its completion until the completion in 1909 of the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company Tower on Madison Avenue in Manhattan.

The building was demolished in 1968 as it was claimed to be functionally obsolete and to make way for the subdued U.S. Steel Building (currently known as One Liberty Plaza). The tower floors were squares only 65 ft (20 m) on a side. It remained the tallest occupied building ever destroyed until the September 11, 2001, collapse of the nearby World Trade Center. It is still currently the tallest building ever legally demolished. It is also thought to have been the tallest free-standing structure ever demolished until the destruction of the Avala TV Tower on April 29, 1999. Note: The demise of the 646.38 metres (2,120.67 ft) tall Warsaw radio mast was due to a maintenance accident and it was a guyed structure.

[edit] External links

• Old postcard view of the Singer Building on bc.edu
• Singer Building in the Structurae database

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Category:Singer Building