This content was created by George White.
Frank Winfield Woolworth on the Woolworth Building
1 2018-01-03T17:17:29-08:00 George White cb0542322fa4ae8e07654b15060808a2ceb373c6 14634 1 Statue of F.W. Woolworth in the Lobby of the Woolworth Building plain 2018-01-03T17:17:34-08:00 George White cb0542322fa4ae8e07654b15060808a2ceb373c6This page is referenced by:
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F.W. Woolworth Company
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in "American Gothic"
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Frank Woolworth opened his first five-cent store in Utica, New York in 1879, but failed to maintain profitability. He opened his second store in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, where he argued that local Quakers knew the value of a nickel.[1] Woolworth was able to bring a big city shopping experience to small town America and took great advantage of the technological advancements of the era, especially the telegraph and the railroads in order to grow his empire.[2] Woolworth was new money in New York and being a man of taste, he argued that the opulence of his new offices at 280 Broadway demonstrated sound financial practice, and undertook a beautification and branding program throughout his empire of stores.[3] Between 1896 and 1900, this beautification and branding program allegedly increased sales by 100% by alluring passersby with a uniform, appealing look to Woolworth’s stores throughout the country.[4] However, design was a limited vehicle for conveying advertisement. Therefore, in 1900, Woolworth chose to build a new headquarters in Lancaster. Its purpose was to be the nicest building in town and to give Woolworth the image that came with it.[5]
In 1905, Woolworth incorporated his company and needed new headquarters in New York City. At the time, the Singer Building was the tallest in the world, and was straight down Broadway from Woolworth’s offices at Broadway and Chambers Street, which is also right across Broadway from Gilbert’s Broadway-Chambers Building.[6] This may have been Woolworth’s first exposure to Gilbert as an architect, and by 1910, Woolworth had asked Gilbert to design his new headquarters between Barclay Street and Park Place on Broadway.
Why did Woolworth choose Cass Gilbert? Gilbert had garnered national fame as a result of his commission for the State Capitols of Minnesota and Arkansas, as well as for his design of the US Custom House in Manhattan. Woolworth may have seen Gilbert’s work either in Minnesota when visiting his stores or at the Custom House in New York, as the Woolworth Company was the nation’s largest importer.[7] For Woolworth however, it would have been the exposure he had to Gilbert’s Broadway-Chambers Building and of utmost relevance, the West Street Building, but a few blocks away from the site of the future Woolworth Building. Woolworth approached Gilbert seeking a grander version of the West Street Building “having admired the Gothic style of that structure.”[8]
