Cass Gilbert's Woolworth Building

Exterior

The exterior of the Woolworth Building dominated the New York skyline when it was finished in 1913. Rising 792 feet above the ground, the Woolworth Building was intended as a visual expression of the Woolworth Company's status in the business world. The building's distinctive profile also served as advertisement for the company, and the company gained publicity from articles about the building's status as the tallest structure in the world.

This drawing shows details of a bay on the 37th floor on the Barclay Street elevation of the building. Like the rest of the building's exterior, this section was executed in a Gothic Revival style. The Gothic was first used for soaring cathedrals in medieval Europe, and the verticality of the Gothic made it an apt choice for F.W. Woolworth's soaring skyscraper.

This drawing shows details for the building's terra cotta ornament. The vertical piers of the exterior were numbered, with numbers nine and ten shown in this drawing. This modern photo shows polychrome terra cotta on the building's tower.

The soaring height of the Woolworth Building and other skyscrapers would not have been possible without steel-frame technology. Other modern technologies, like plumbing and electricity, were incorporated into the building. As shown in this drawing, these systems were complex and required coordination with contractors like Albert Webster, the sanitary engineer whose office drew this section of the building.

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