title: Prolog

text: Pure Prolog was originally restricted to the use of a resolution theorem prover with Horn clauses of the form:


title: Prolog

text: Pure Prolog was soon extended, however, to include negation as failure, in which negative conditions of the form not(B) are shown by trying and failing to solve the corresponding positive conditions B.


title: Prolog

text: Subsequent extensions of Prolog by the original team introduced constraint logic programming abilities into the implementations.


title: Prolog

text: Prolog has been used in Watson. Watson uses IBM's DeepQA software and the Apache UIMA (Unstructured Information Management Architecture) framework. The system was written in various languages, including Java, C++, and Prolog, and runs on the SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11 operating system using Apache Hadoop framework to provide distributed computing. Prolog is used for pattern matching over natural language parse trees. The developers have stated: "We required a language in which we could conveniently express pattern matching rules over the parse trees and other annotations (such as named entity recognition results), and a technology that could execute these rules very efficiently. We found that Prolog was the ideal choice for the language due to its simplicity and expressiveness." Prolog is being used in the Low-Code Development Platform GeneXus, which is focused around AI. Open source graph database TerminusDB is implemented in prolog. TerminusDB is designed for collaboratively building and curating knowledge graphs.


title: Mass (liturgy)

text: Mass is the main Eucharistic liturgical service in many forms of Western Christianity. The term "Mass" is commonly used in the Catholic Church, in the Western Rite Orthodox, in Old Catholic, and in Independent Catholic churches. The term is used in some Lutheran churches, as well as in some Anglican churches. The term is also used, on rare occasion, by other Protestant churches.


title: Mass (liturgy)

text: Other Christian denominations may employ terms such as "Divine Service" or "worship service" (and often just "service"), rather than the word "Mass". For the celebration of the Eucharist in Eastern Christianity, including Eastern Catholic Churches, other terms such as "Divine Liturgy", "Holy Qurbana", "Holy Qurobo" and "Badarak" (or "Patarag") are typically used instead.


title: Mass (liturgy)

text: The English noun "mass" is derived from the Middle Latin . The Latin word was adopted in Old English as (via a Vulgar Latin form ), and was sometimes glossed as "sendnes" (i.e. 'a sending, dismission').


title: Mass (liturgy)

text: The Latin term itself was in use by the 6th century. It is most likely derived from the concluding formula ("Go; the dismissal is made"); here is a Late Latin substantive corresponding to classical .


title: Mass (liturgy)

text: Historically, however, there have been other etymological explanations of the noun that claim not to derive from the formula . Fortescue (1910) cites older, "fanciful" etymological explanations, notably a latinization of Hebrew () "unleavened bread; oblation", a derivation favoured in the 16th century by Reuchlin and Luther, or Greek "initiation", or even Germanic "assembly". The French historian Du Cange in 1678 reported "various opinions on the origin" of the noun "Mass", including the derivation from Hebrew (), here attributed to Caesar Baronius. The Hebrew derivation is learned speculation from 16th-century philology; medieval authorities did derive the noun from the verb , but not in connection with the formula . Thus, (9th century) explains the word as ("from 'sending', that which sends us towards God"),


title: Mass (liturgy)

text: while Rupert of Deutz (early 12th century) derives it from a "dismissal" of the "enmities which had been between God and men" ().


title: Mass (liturgy)

text: A distinction is made between texts that recur for every Mass celebration (, ordinary), and texts that are sung depending on the occasion (, proper). For example, for the Tridentine Mass:


title: Mass (liturgy)

text: A ("full Mass") consists of a musical setting of the five sections of the ordinarium as listed below.


title: Mass (liturgy)

text: In the Tridentine Mass, the Kyrie is the first sung prayer of the Mass ordinary. It is usually (but not always) part of any musical setting of the Mass. Kyrie movements often have a ternary (ABA) musical structure that reflects the symmetrical structure of the text. Musical settings exist in styles ranging from Gregorian chant to Folk.


title: Mass (liturgy)

text: Because of the brevity of the text, Kyries were often very melismatic. This encouraged later composers to make tropes out of them, either by adding words to the melisma (as how a sequence is often considered), or extending the melisma. In fact, because of the late date of most Kyries, it is not always clear whether a particular Kyrie melody or the apparently troped text came first; it could just as easily be the case that a syllabic song was converted into a melisma for a Kyrie verse. In some cases, verses interpolate Latin text between each "Kyrie" (or "Christe") and "eleison".


title: Mass (liturgy)

text: As the Kyrie is the first item in settings of the Mass ordinary and the second in the requiem Mass (the only Mass proper set regularly over the centuries), nearly all of the thousands of composers over the centuries who have set the ordinaries of the Mass to music have included a Kyrie movement.


title: Mass (liturgy)

text: Kyrie movements often have a structure that reflects the concision and symmetry of the text. Many have a ternary (ABA) form known as a three-fold kyrie, where the two appearances of the phrase consist of identical or closely related material and frame a contrasting section. The AAABBBCCC' form is also commonly used which is known as a nine-fold kyrie. Famously, Mozart sets the and texts in his Requiem Mass as the two subjects of a double fugue.


title: Mass (liturgy)

text: In Mass settings (normally in English) composed for the Church of England's "Book of Common Prayer" liturgy, the Gloria is commonly the last movement, because it occurs in this position in the text of the service. In Order One of the newer "Common Worship" liturgy, however, it is restored to its earlier place in the service.


title: Mass (liturgy)

text: Organizers of international celebrations, such as World Youth Day, have been encouraged by Rome to familiarize congregants in the Latin chants for the Our Father and the Credo, specifically Credo III (17th century, Fifth Mode) from the . The purpose of singing these two texts in Latin is to engender a sense of unity in the faithful, all of whom thus sing the prayer of Jesus and the shared belief of the universal Church in the same language.


title: Mass (liturgy)

text: The Sanctus is a doxology praising the Trinity. A variant exists in Lutheran settings of the Sanctus. While most hymnal settings keep the second person pronoun, other settings change the second person pronoun to the third person. This is most notable in J.S. Bach's Mass in B minor, where the text reads ("His glory"). Martin Luther's chorale "Isaiah, Mighty in Days of Old", and Felix Mendelssohn's setting of the () from his also use the third person.


title: Mass (liturgy)

text: The Benedictus is a continuation of the Sanctus. is repeated after the section, often with musical material identical to that used after the , or very closely related.


title: Mass (liturgy)

text: In Gregorian chant the (with ) was sung whole at its place in the Mass. However, as composers produced more embellished settings of the text,


title: Mass (liturgy)

text: The Agnus Dei is a setting of the "Lamb of God" litany, containing the responses ('have mercy upon us'), repeated twice, and ('grant us peace') once at the end.


title: Mass (liturgy)

text: In a Requiem Mass, the words are replaced by ('grant them rest'), while is replaced by ('grant them eternal rest').


title: Mass (liturgy)

text: There is some additional terminology regarding Mass settings indicating whether or not they include all five usual sections of the ordinarium, and whether or not the Mass is intended for exceptionally festive occasions.


title: Mass (liturgy)

text: The ("short and solemn Mass") is an exceptional format, for its best known instances tied to the Salzburg of archbishop Hieronymus Colloredo, although earlier examples are extant. Mozart described it thus in a letter he wrote in 1776 ("the Archbishop" in this quotation refers to Colloredo):


title: Mass (liturgy)

text: The description applies to several of the Masses Mozart composed in Salzburg between 1775 and 1780, the "Sparrow Mass" being considered as its first instance for this composer.


title: Mass (liturgy)

text: Tongue-in-cheek, and not indebted to Viennese traditions, Gioachino Rossini qualified one of his last compositions, a Mass, as both ("small") and ("solemn") (Petite messe solennelle). In this case, "small" refers to the modest forces needed for its performance, and "solemn" to its duration, although later commentators would describe the composition as "neither small nor solemn".


title: Mass (liturgy)

text: During Lent () and Advent () the Gloria is not sung. Thus , "Mass for the period of (Advent and) Lent" indicates a Mass composition without music for the Gloria. Michael Haydn composed a Mass suitable for Lent and Advent, the , in for the modest forces of choir and organ.


title: Mass (liturgy)

text: The sixth and last part of the Ordinarium (either , or, in Masses without Gloria, ) is usually not set as part of a Mass composition. In a Tridentine Mass that part of the Ordinarium is usually spoken, or sung to the Gregorian melody provided in the Roman Missal, although early polyphonic settings for the response (e.g. in Guillaume de Machaut's "Messe de Nostre Dame") and for the Benedicamus Domino (e.g. in ) are extant.


title: Mass (liturgy)

text: The Proper of the Mass is usually not set to music in a Mass itself, except in the case of a Requiem Mass, but may be the subject of motets or other musical compositions. Some Mass compositions, like for instance Rossini's , do however contain parts outside the Ordinarium. Some Mass compositions even consist entirely of such additions: Schubert's , a set of eight hymns with epilogue, is an example of such a Mass.


title: Mass (liturgy)

text: Purely instrumental compositions can also be part of a Mass celebration, e.g. a Sonata da chiesa, sometimes with a liturgical function, like Mozart's Epistle Sonatas.


title: Mass (liturgy)

text: In a liturgical Mass, there are other sections that may be sung, often in Gregorian chant. These sections, the "Proper" of the Mass, change with the day and season according to the Church calendar, or according to the special circumstances of the Mass. The sections of the Proper of the Mass include the Introit, Gradual, Alleluia or Tract (depending on the time of year), Offertory and Communion.


title: Mass (liturgy)

text: Ordinarium and proprium sections of a specific liturgical Mass are not typically set to music together in the same composition. The one major exception to this rule is the Mass for the dead, or requiem.


title: Mass (liturgy)

text: The Catholic Church sees the Mass or Eucharist as "the source and summit of the Christian life", to which the other sacraments are oriented. Remembered in the Mass are Jesus' life, Last Supper, and sacrificial death on the cross at Calvary. The ordained celebrant (priest or bishop) is understood to act "in persona Christi", as he recalls the words and gestures of Jesus Christ at the Last Supper and leads the congregation (always "we", never "I") in praise of God. The Mass is composed of two parts, the Liturgy of the Word and the Liturgy of the Eucharist.


title: Mass (liturgy)

text: Although similar in outward appearance to the Anglican Mass or Lutheran Mass, the Catholic Church distinguishes between its own Mass and theirs on the basis of what it views as the validity of the orders of their clergy, and as a result, does not ordinarily permit intercommunion between members of these Churches. In a 1993 letter to Bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Bavaria, Cardinal Ratzinger (later Pope Benedict XVI) affirmed that "a theology oriented to the concept of succession [of bishops], such as that which holds in the Catholic and in the Orthodox church, need not in any way deny the salvation-granting presence of the Lord [Heilschaffende Gegenwart des Herrn] in a Lutheran [evangelische] Lord's Supper." The Decree on Ecumenism, produced by Vatican II in 1964, records that the Catholic Church notes its understanding that when other faith groups (such as Lutherans, Anglicans, and Presbyterians) "commemorate His death and resurrection in the Lord's Supper, they profess that it signifies life in communion with Christ and look forward to His coming in glory."


title: Mass (liturgy)

text: Within the fixed structure outlined below, which is specific to the Ordinary Form of the Roman Rite, the Scripture readings, the antiphons sung or recited during the entrance procession or at Communion, and certain other prayers vary each day according to the liturgical calendar. For many variations and options not mentioned here, see the complete "Order of the Mass".


title: Mass (liturgy)

text: The priest enters, with a deacon if there is one, and altar servers (who may act as crucifer, candle-bearers and thurifer). The priest makes the sign of the cross with the people and formally greets them. Of the options offered for the Introductory Rites, that preferred by liturgists would bridge the praise of the opening hymn with the Glory to God which follows. The "Kyrie eleison" here has from early times been an acclamation of God's mercy. The Penitential Act instituted by the Council of Trent is also still permitted here, with the caution that it should not turn the congregation in upon itself during these rites which are aimed at uniting those gathered as one praiseful congregation. The Introductory Rites are brought to a close by the Collect Prayer.


title: Mass (liturgy)

text: On Sundays and solemnities, three Scripture readings are given. On other days there are only two. If there are three readings, the first is from the Old Testament (a term wider than "Hebrew Scriptures", since it includes the Deuterocanonical Books), or the Acts of the Apostles during Eastertide. The first reading is followed by a psalm, recited or sung responsorially. The second reading is from the New Testament epistles, typically from one of the Pauline epistles. A Gospel acclamation is then sung as the Book of the Gospels is processed, sometimes with incense and candles, to the ambo; if not sung it may be omitted. The final reading and high point of the Liturgy of the Word is the proclamation of the Gospel by the deacon or priest. On all Sundays and Holy Days of Obligation, and preferably at all Masses, a homily or sermon that draws upon some aspect of the readings or the liturgy itself, is then given. The homily is preferably moral and hortatory. Finally, the Nicene Creed or, especially from Easter to Pentecost, the Apostles' Creed is professed on Sundays and solemnities, and the Universal Prayer or Prayer of the Faithful follows. The designation "of the faithful" comes from when catechumens did not remain for this prayer or for what follows.


title: Mass (liturgy)

text: The Liturgy of the Eucharist begins with the preparation of the altar and gifts, while the collection may be taken. This concludes with the priest saying: "Pray, brethren, that my sacrifice and yours may be acceptable to God, the almighty Father." The congregation stands and responds: "May the Lord accept the sacrifice at your hands, for the praise and glory of His name, for our good, and the good of all His holy Church." The priest then pronounces the variable prayer over the gifts.


title: Mass (liturgy)

text: Then in dialogue with the faithful the priest brings to mind the meaning of "eucharist", to give thanks to God. A variable prayer of thanksgiving follows, concluding with the acclamation "Holy, Holy ...Heaven and earth are full of your glory. ...Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest." The anaphora, or more properly "Eucharistic Prayer", follows, The oldest of the anaphoras of the Roman Rite, fixed since the Council of Trent, is called the Roman Canon, with central elements dating to the fourth century. With the liturgical renewal following the Second Vatican Council, numerous other Eucharistic prayers have been composed, including four for children's Masses. Central to the Eucharist is the Institution Narrative, recalling the words and actions of Jesus at his Last Supper, which he told his disciples to do in remembrance of him. Then the congregation acclaims its belief in Christ's conquest over death, and their hope of eternal life. Since the early church an essential part of the Eucharistic prayer has been the epiclesis, the calling down of the Holy Spirit to sanctify our offering. The priest concludes with a doxology in praise of God's work, at which the people give their Amen to the whole Eucharistic prayer.


title: Mass (liturgy)

text: All together recite or sing the "Lord's Prayer" ("Pater Noster" or "Our Father"). The priest introduces it with a short phrase and follows it up with a prayer called the embolism, after which the people respond with another doxology. The sign of peace is exchanged and then the "Lamb of God" ("Agnus Dei" in Latin) litany is sung or recited while the priest breaks the host and places a piece in the main chalice; this is known as the rite of fraction and commingling.


title: Mass (liturgy)

text: The priest then displays the consecrated elements to the congregation, saying: "Behold the Lamb of God, behold him who takes away the sins of the world. Blessed are those called to the supper of the Lamb," to which all respond: "Lord, I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof, but only say the word and my soul shall be healed." Then Communion is given, often with lay ministers assisting with the consecrated wine. According to Catholic teaching, one should be in the state of grace, without mortal sin, to receive Communion. Singing by all the faithful during the Communion procession is encouraged "to express the communicants' union in spirit" from the bread that makes them one. A silent time for reflection follows, and then the variable concluding prayer of the Mass.


title: Mass (liturgy)

text: The priest imparts a blessing over those present. The deacon or, in his absence, the priest himself then dismisses the people, choosing a formula by which the people are "sent forth" to spread the good news. The congregation responds: "Thanks be to God." A recessional hymn is sung by all, as the ministers process to the rear of the church.


title: Mass (liturgy)

text: Since most Eastern Orthodox Christians use the Byzantine Rite, most Eastern Orthodox Churches call their Eucharistic service "the Divine Liturgy." However, there are a number of parishes within the Eastern Orthodox Church which use an edited version of Latin liturgical rites. Most parishes use the "Divine Liturgy of St. Tikhon" which is a revision of the Anglican Book of Common Prayer, or "the Divine Liturgy of St. Gregory" which is derived from the Tridentine form of the Roman Rite Mass. These rubrics have been revised to reflect the doctrine and dogmas of the Eastern Orthodox Church. Therefore, the filioque clause has been removed, a fuller epiclesis has been added, and the use of leavened bread has been introduced.


title: Mass (liturgy)

text: In the Anglican tradition, "Mass" is one of many terms for the Eucharist. More frequently, the term used is either "Holy Communion", "Holy Eucharist", or the "Lord's Supper". Occasionally the term used in Eastern churches, the "Divine Liturgy", is also used. In the English-speaking Anglican world, the term used often identifies the Eucharistic theology of the person using it. "Mass" is frequently used by Anglo-Catholics.


title: Mass (liturgy)

text: The various Eucharistic liturgies used by national churches of the Anglican Communion have continuously evolved from the 1549 and 1552 editions of the "Book of Common Prayer," both of which owed their form and contents chiefly to the work of Thomas Cranmer, who in about 1547 had rejected the medieval theology of the Mass. Although the 1549 rite retained the traditional sequence of the Mass, its underlying theology was Cranmer's and the four-day debate in the House of Lords during December 1548 makes it clear that this had already moved far beyond traditional Catholicism. In the 1552 revision, this was made clear by the restructuring of the elements of the rite while retaining nearly all the language so that it became, in the words of an Anglo-Catholic liturgical historian (Arthur Couratin) "a series of communion devotions; disembarrassed of the Mass with which they were temporarily associated in 1548 and 1549". Some rites, such as the 1637 Scottish rite and the 1789 rite in the United States, went back to the 1549 model. From the time of the Elizabethan Settlement in 1559 the services allowed for a certain variety of theological interpretation. Today's rites generally follow the same general five-part shape. Some or all of the following elements may be altered, transposed or absent depending on the rite, the liturgical season and use of the province or national church:


title: Mass (liturgy)

text: The liturgy is divided into two main parts: The Liturgy of the Word (Gathering, Proclaiming and Hearing the Word, Prayers of the People) and the Liturgy of the Eucharist (together with the Dismissal), but the entire liturgy itself is also properly referred to as the Holy Eucharist. The sequence of the liturgy is almost identical to the Roman Rite, except the Confession of Sin ends the Liturgy of the Word in the Anglican rites in North America, while in the Roman Rite (when used) and in Anglican rites in many jurisdictions the Confession is near the beginning of the service.


title: Mass (liturgy)

text: The Anglican tradition includes separate rites for nuptial, funeral, and votive Masses. The Eucharist is an integral part of many other sacramental services, including ordination and Confirmation.


title: Mass (liturgy)

text: Some Anglo-Catholic parishes use Anglican versions of the Tridentine Missal, such as the "English Missal", "The Anglican Missal", or the "American Missal", for the celebration of Mass, all of which are intended primarily for the celebration of the Eucharist, or use the order for the Eucharist in "Common Worship" arranged according to the traditional structure, and often with interpolations from the Roman Rite. In the Episcopal Church (United States), a traditional-language, Anglo-Catholic adaptation of the 1979 "Book of Common Prayer" has been published ("An Anglican Service Book").


title: Mass (liturgy)

text: All of these books contain such features as meditations for the presiding celebrant(s) during the liturgy, and other material such as the rite for the blessing of palms on Palm Sunday, propers for special feast days, and instructions for proper ceremonial order. These books are used as a more expansively Catholic context in which to celebrate the liturgical use found in the Book of Common Prayer and related liturgical books. In England supplementary liturgical texts for the proper celebration of Festivals, Feast days and the seasons is provided in "Common Worship; Times and Seasons" (2013), "" (2008) and "" (2011).


title: Mass (liturgy)

text: These are often supplemented in Anglo-Catholic parishes by books specifying ceremonial actions, such as "A Priest's Handbook" by Dennis G. Michno, "Ceremonies of the Eucharist" by Howard E. Galley, "" by C. P. A. Burnett, and "Ritual Notes" by E.C.R. Lamburn. Other guides to ceremonial include the General Instruction of the Roman Missal, "Ceremonies of the Modern Roman Rite" (Peter Elliott), "Ceremonies of the Roman Rite Described" (Adrian Fortescue), and "The Parson's Handbook" (Percy Dearmer). In Evangelical Anglican parishes, the rubrics detailed in the "Book of Common Prayer" are sometimes considered normative.


title: Mass (liturgy)

text: In the Book of Concord, Article XXIV ("Of the Mass") of the Augsburg Confession (1530) begins thus: Falsely are our churches accused of abolishing the Mass; for the Mass is retained among us, and celebrated with the highest reverence. We do not abolish the Mass but religiously keep and defend it. ...We keep the traditional liturgical form. ...In our churches Mass is celebrated every Sunday and on other holy days, when the sacrament is offered to those who wish for it after they have been examined and absolved (Article XXIV).


title: Mass (liturgy)

text: Martin Luther rejected parts of the Roman Rite Catholic Mass, specifically the Canon of the Mass, which, as he argued, did not conform with . That verse contrasts the Old Testament priests, who needed to make a sacrifice for sins on a regular basis, with the single priest Christ, who offers his body only once as a sacrifice. The theme is carried out also in , , and . Luther composed as a replacement a revised Latin-language rite, "Formula missae," in 1523, and the vernacular Deutsche Messe in 1526.


title: Mass (liturgy)

text: As such, historically, the Lutheran Church has stated that the Lutheran Mass is "the only Mass founded in the Scriptures of God, in accordance with the plain and incontestable institution of the Saviour."


title: Mass (liturgy)

text: Scandinavian, Finnish, and some English speaking Lutherans, use the term "Mass" for their Eucharistic service, but in most German and English-speaking churches, the terms "Divine Service", "Holy Communion, or "the Holy Eucharist" are used.


title: Mass (liturgy)

text: The celebration of the Mass in Lutheran churches follows a similar pattern to other traditions, starting with public confession (Confiteor) by all and a Declaration of Grace said by the priest or pastor. There follow the "Introit", "Kyrie", "Gloria", collect, the readings with an alleluia (alleluia is not said during Lent), homily (or sermon) and recitation of the Nicene Creed. The Service of the Eucharist includes the General intercessions, Preface, "Sanctus" and Eucharistic Prayer, elevation of the host and chalice and invitation to the Eucharist. The "Agnus Dei" is chanted while the clergy and assistants first commune, followed by lay communicants. Postcommunion prayers and the final blessing by the priest ends the Mass. A Catholic or Anglican of the Anglo-Catholic party would find its elements familiar, in particular the use of the sign of the cross, kneeling for prayer and the Eucharistic Prayer, bowing to the processional crucifix, kissing the altar, incense (among some), chanting, and vestments.


title: Mass (liturgy)

text: Lutheran churches often celebrate the Eucharist each Sunday, if not at every worship service. This aligns with Luther's preference and the Lutheran confessions. Also, eucharistic ministers take the sacramental elements to the sick in hospitals and nursing homes. The practice of weekly Communion is increasingly the norm again in most Lutheran parishes throughout the world. The bishops and pastors of the larger Lutheran bodies have strongly encouraged this restoration of the weekly Mass.


title: Mass (liturgy)

text: The celebration of the Eucharist may form a part of services for weddings, funerals, retreats, the dedication of a church building and annual synod conventions. The Mass is also an important aspect of ordinations and confirmations in Lutheran churches.


title: Mass (liturgy)

text: The celebration of the "Mass" in Methodist churches, commonly known as the Service of the Table, is based on "The Sunday Service" of 1784, a revision of the liturgy of the 1662 "Book of Common Prayer" authorized by John Wesley. The use of the term "Mass" is very rare in Methodism. The terms "Holy Communion", "Lord's Supper", and to a lesser extent "Eucharist" are far more typical.


title: Mass (liturgy)

text: The celebrant of a Methodist Eucharist must be an ordained or licensed minister. In the Free Methodist Church, the liturgy of the Eucharist, as provided in its "Book of Discipline," is outlined as follows:


title: Mass (liturgy)

text: Methodist services of worship, post-1992, reflect the ecumenical movement and Liturgical Movement, particularly the "Methodist Mass", largely the work of theologian Donald C. Lacy.


title: Mass (liturgy)

text: The English suffix "" (equivalent to modern English "Mass") can label certain prominent (originally religious) feasts or seasons based on a traditional liturgical year. For example:


The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning is a 2006 American slasher film and a prequel to the 2003 film. The sixth installment in "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" franchise, it was written by Sheldon Turner from a story by Turner and David J. Schow, directed by Jonathan Liebesman and co-produced by Kim Henkel and Tobe Hooper (co-creators of the original 1974 film). The film's story takes place four years before its predecessor. It stars Jordana Brewster, Diora Baird, Taylor Handley, Matt Bomer and R. Lee Ermey.


title: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning

text: Originally, the film had the subtitle "The Origin". New Line Cinema had to pay $3.1 million more than expected in order to keep the rights to the franchise after Dimension Films made a large offer to buy it.


text: "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning" was released in North America on October 6, 2006. The film received negative reviews from critics but still grossed $51.8 million on a budget of $16 million, although this would be less than half the gross of the previous film.


text: In 1939, a woman dies while giving birth prematurely in a slaughterhouse in Texas, and the supervisor disposes of the baby by leaving him in a dumpster. When young Luda Mae Hewitt finds the child, she takes him back to the Hewitt residence, names him Thomas and raises him as her own son.


text: Thirty years later, Thomas (Andrew Bryniarski) works in the slaughterhouse under the same supervisor who left him in the dumpster. When the plant is shut down by the health department, he refuses to leave until the supervisor makes him. Thomas murders his supervisor and finds a chainsaw, which he takes with him. When Sheriff Hoyt attempts to arrest him, Luda Mae's son, Charlie Hewitt (R. Lee Ermey) shoots him and assumes his identity.


text: Meanwhile, brothers Eric (Matt Bomer) and Dean (Taylor Handley), are driving across the country with their girlfriends, Chrissie (Jordana Brewster) and Bailey (Diora Baird), to enlist in the Vietnam War. At a diner, they run into a biker gang, one of whom follows them on her motorcycle. She draws a shotgun and orders the group to pull over. In the ensuing chaos, the car crashes, and Chrissie is thrown into a field. When Hoyt arrives, he kills the biker and makes them put her body in his car. He then calls for Uncle Monty to tow the jeep, which Chrissie is hiding in.


text: Hoyt drives the group to the Hewitt house where he has Thomas butcher the biker's body. Chrissie runs to the highway and flags down Holden, the biker's boyfriend, and they return to the house together. Hoyt tortures Dean after finding out that he was going to forgo the Vietnam War draft. When Hoyt leaves, Eric breaks free from his restraints and gets Dean to safety before sneaking into the house to free Bailey. Bailey escapes in Monty's truck but Thomas stabs her with a meat hook and drags her back to the house. Dean gets caught in a bear trap, and Hoyt knocks Eric unconscious.


text: Holden and Chrissie part ways to search for their friends. While Chrissie finds Dean, Holden takes Hoyt hostage. Thomas straps Eric to a wooden table and slices off the nerves in both of his arms. Hoyt calls out to Thomas for help, and Thomas kills Holden with the chainsaw. Chrissie finds Eric in the basement but is unable to free him, and hides when Thomas returns. Thomas kills Eric with the chainsaw, then skins his face and wears it as a mask. Chrissie is about to flee when she hears Bailey's screams and decides to save her. She finds her upstairs, but Hoyt catches her and brings her downstairs for dinner, along with Bailey and an unconscious Dean. Leatherface slits Bailey's throat and tries to take Chrissie to the basement, but she stabs him in the back with a screwdriver, and jumps out of a window.


text: Dean regains consciousness and savagely beats Hoyt before heading off to find Chrissie. Chrissie enters the slaughterhouse, grabs a knife and cuts Leatherface's face, but he overpowers her. Dean intervenes but Leatherface kills him with the chainsaw. Chrissie escapes, hijacks an abandoned car, and drives off. She sees a state trooper and pulled over pedestrian, but as she pulls over, Leatherface appears in the backseat and impales her with the chainsaw, causing her to lose control and crash into the trooper and pedestrian. Leatherface walks along the road back towards the Hewitt house.


text: After the success of "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" (2003), Platinum Dunes producers Andrew Form and Brad Fuller began brainstorming story ideas for another installment, deciding a prequel would allow for more narrative possibilities. They contacted Scott Kosar, who wrote the 2003 remake, but he was tied up with other projects, so they turned to Sheldon Turner, whom they worked with on "The Amityville Horror" (2005). The producers asked Turner to answer questions posed by the original "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" story concerning the Hewitt family.


text: Director Jonathan Liebesman was not certain about taking on the film until he learned that it was to be a prequel. He proposed not trying to explain too much of the killer's motives, and that "the movie needed to feel like the beginning of hell."


text: Principle photography began in Austin, Texas, at several of the same locations as the 2003 film. Liebesman asked for Lukas Ettlin as cinematographer, who had shot every student film Liebesman made. The filmmakers decided on a desaturated red, white and blue color theme, representing "the decay of the American dream, the family that's gone off the rails." The film was shot in chronological order, and after the depiction of the car crash, Ettlin changed the shutter angle from 180 to 90 degrees for the rest of the shoot to make everything appear more hectic.


text: "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning" was released on October 6, 2006, in 2,820 theaters, debuting at number 2 at the box office, grossing $18,508,228 on its first weekend. Its second week saw a 59.6% drop in attendance, grossing only $7,485,290 and coming in at number 5 at the box office. During its third week it grossed $3,779,829 and came in at number 10 at the box office. The film dropped out of the top ten and into eighteenth place with $1,269,942. "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning" would fail to regain a top ten spot at the box office for the remainder of its theatrical run, ending with $51,764,406 in total gross.


text: "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning" was released on DVD by New Line Home Video on January 16, 2007. This release included both theatrical and unrated versions of the film, as well as a double feature with the first film. EIV would release the film in the UK on February 19 that same year as both a two-disc uncut edition, a single-disc theatrical version, and as a part of the "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" collection.


text: New Line would re-release the film in 2008 and 2009 before releasing the film on Blu-ray on October 15, 2013. The film had previously been released for the first time on Blu-ray by Ais on July 6, 2010.


text: On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, it holds a 15% approval rating based on 88 reviews and an average rating of 3.80/10. The site's consensus states: ""The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning" is full of blood and gore, but not enough scares or a coherent story to make for a successful horror film." Metacritic reports a 30 out of 100 rating, based on 18 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews".


text: Peter Travers from "Rolling Stone" awarded the film zero stars, calling it "putridly written, directed and acted", also criticizing the film's "obvious" plot turns.


text: Nathan Lee from "The New York Times" panned the film as "an invitation to hard-core sadism". In a more positive review, Peter Debruge of "Variety" thought "Liebesman hews close to the 2003 pic's bile-tinged snuff film aesthetic ... Purists who wondered what had become of the family dinner scene (left out of the remake) should be pleased to find an even creepier version recreated here."


text: At the 27th Golden Raspberry Awards (2006), the film was nominated for a Worst Prequel or Sequel, but lost to "Basic Instinct 2".


text: In January 2007, Platinum Dunes executives Bradley Fuller and Andrew Form stated that the company would not be producing the third film in the "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" remake franchise.


title: Woolworth Building

text: The Woolworth Building is an early American skyscraper designed by architect Cass Gilbert located at 233 Broadway in the Tribeca neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City. It was the tallest building in the world from 1913 to 1930, with a height of . More than a century after its construction, it remains one of the 100 tallest buildings in the United States.


title: Woolworth Building

text: The Woolworth Building is bounded by Broadway and City Hall Park to its east, Park Place to its north, and Barclay Street to its south. It consists of a 30-story base topped by a 30-story tower. Its facade is mostly decorated with architectural terracotta, though the lower portions are limestone, and it features thousands of windows. The ornate lobby contains various sculptures, mosaics, and architectural touches. The structure was designed with several amenities and attractions, including a now-closed observatory on the 57th floor and a private swimming pool in the basement.


title: Woolworth Building

text: F. W. Woolworth, the founder of a brand of popular five-and-ten-cent stores, conceived the skyscraper as a headquarters for his company. Woolworth planned the skyscraper jointly with the Irving National Exchange Bank, which also agreed to use the structure as its headquarters. The Woolworth Building had originally been planned as a 12- to 16-story commercial building but underwent several revisions during its planning process. Its final height was not decided upon until January 1911. Construction started in 1910 and was completed two years later. The building officially opened on April 24, 1913.


title: Woolworth Building

text: The Woolworth Building has undergone several changes throughout its history. The facade was cleaned in 1932, and the building received an extensive renovation between 1977 and 1981. The Irving National Exchange Bank moved its headquarters to 1 Wall Street in 1931, but the Woolworth Company (later Venator Group) continued to own the Woolworth Building for most of the 20th century. The structure was sold to the Witkoff Group in 1998. The top 30 floors were sold to a developer in 2012 and converted into residences. Office and commercial tenants use the rest of the building. The Woolworth Building has been a National Historic Landmark since 1966, and a New York City designated landmark since 1983.


title: Woolworth Building

text: Cass Gilbert designed the Woolworth Building in the neo-Gothic style. The building resembles European Gothic cathedrals; Reverend S. Parkes Cadman dubbed it "The Cathedral of Commerce" in a booklet published in 1916. F. W. 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. Conversely, Gilbert disliked the comparison to religious imagery. The architect ultimately used 15th- and 16th-century Gothic ornament on the Woolworth Building, along with a complementary color scheme.The Woolworth Building was designed to be high but was eventually raised to . Several different height measurements have been cited over the years, but the building rises about above the lowest point of the site. The Woolworth Building was 60 stories tall when completed in 1913, though this consisted of 53 usable floors topped by several mechanical floors. The building's ceiling heights, ranging from , make it the equivalent of an 80-story building. It remained the tallest building in the world until the construction of 40 Wall Street and the Chrysler Building in 1930, both in New York City. The building is assigned its own ZIP Code, 10279; it was one of 41 buildings in Manhattan that had their own ZIP Codes .


title: Woolworth Building

text: The building's tower, flush with the main frontage on Broadway, joins an office block base with a narrow interior court for light. The base occupies the entire lot between Park Place to the north, Broadway to the east, and Barclay Street to the south. The base contains two "wings" extending westward, one each on the Park Place and Barclay Street frontages, which form a rough U-shape when combined with the Broadway frontage. This ensured that all offices had outside views. The U-shaped base is approximately 30 stories tall. All four elevations of the base are decorated, since it could be seen from all sides.


title: Woolworth Building

text: The tower rises an additional 30 stories above the eastern side of the base, abutting Broadway. Above the 30th floor are setbacks on the north and south elevations. There are additional setbacks along the north, south, and west elevations on the 45th and 50th floors. The 30th through 45th floors measure ; the 46th through 50th floors, ; and the 51st through 53rd floors, . The tower has a square plan below the 50th-story setback and an octagonal plan above. Though the structure is physically 60 stories tall, the 53rd floor is the top floor that can be occupied. Above the 53rd floor, the tower tapers into a pyramidal roof.


title: Woolworth Building

text: The lowest four stories are clad in limestone. Above that, the exterior of the Woolworth Building was cast in limestone-colored, glazed architectural terracotta panels. F. W. Woolworth initially wanted to clad the skyscraper in granite, while Gilbert wanted to use limestone. The decision to use terracotta for the facade was based on both aesthetic and functional concerns. Terracotta was not only fireproof but also, in Gilbert's mind, a purely ornamental addition clarifying the Woolworth Building's steel construction. Each panel was of a slightly different color, creating a polychrome effect. The facade appeared to have a uniform tone, but the upper floors were actually darker and more dense. Behind the terracotta panels were brick walls; the terracotta pieces are attached to the brick walls by metal rods and hangers.


title: Woolworth Building

text: The Atlantic Terra Cotta Company provided the original terracotta cladding. The panels were manufactured in shades of blue, green, sienna, and rose. The terracotta panels were partially vitrified, allowing them to bear large loads. Gilbert also asked that John Donnelly and Eliseo V. Ricci create full-size designs based on Atlantic Terra Cotta's models. In 1932, Atlantic Terra Cotta carried out a comprehensive cleaning campaign of the Woolworth's facade to remove blackening caused by the city's soot and pollution. The Ehrenkrantz Group restored the building's facade between 1977 and 1981. During the renovation, much of the terracotta was replaced with concrete and Gothic ornament was removed.


title: Woolworth Building

text: The building has several thousand windows: the exact number is disputed, but various sources state that the Woolworth Building has 2,843, 4,400, or 5,000 windows. Windows were included for lighting and comfort; because the Woolworth Building was built before air conditioning became common, every office is within of a window. Some of the Woolworth Building's windows are set within arch-shaped openings. Most of the building's spandrels, or triangles between the top corners of the window and the top of the arch, have golden Gothic tracery against a bright blue backdrop. On the 25th, 39th, and 40th stories, the spandrels consist of iconography found in the royal coat of arms of the United Kingdom. Gold-on-blue tracery is also found on the 26th, 27th, and 42nd floors.


title: Woolworth Building

text: On the part of the base facing Broadway, as well as the tower above it, there are three bays; the left and right bays have two windows per floor, while the center bay has three windows. The elevations facing Park Place and Barclay Street each have six bays with two windows per floor. The base, on its lowest four stories, is divided into three-story-high entrance and exit bays, each of which has a one-story attic above it. There are nine entrances in total.


title: Woolworth Building

text: The main entrance on Broadway is a three-story Tudor arch, surrounded on either side by two bays: one narrower than the main arch, the other wider. The five bays form a triumphal arch overhung by a balcony and stone motifs of Gothic design. The intrados of the arch contains 23 niches. The topmost niche depicts an owl; the lowest niches on both sides depict tree trunks; and the other twenty niches depict animated figures. The spandrel above the left side of the arch depicts Mercury, classical god of commerce, while that above the right side depicts Ceres, classical goddess of agriculture. Above all of this is an ogee arch with more niches, as well as two carvings of owls hovering above a "W" monogram. There are salamanders within niches on either side of the main entrance. Inside the triumphal arch, there is a smaller arch with a revolving door and a Tudor window; it is flanked by standard doors and framed with decorations. There is a pelican above this smaller arch.


title: Woolworth Building

text: Decorated revolving doors are also located at the northern and southern entrances, at Park Place and Barclay Street respectively. The Park Place and Barclay Street entrances are nearly identical, except for the arrangement of the storefronts. Both entrances are located on the eastern sides of their respective elevations, lining up with the tower above them, and contain a wide arch flanked by two narrower arches. The three entrances feed into the arcaded lobby. The building's Park Place entrance contained a stair to the New York City Subway's Park Place station, served by the , inside the westernmost bay of the building entrance.


title: Woolworth Building

text: The facade contains vertical piers, which protrude diagonally. There are six such piers on the Broadway elevation. In addition, horizontal belt courses run above the 4th, 9th, 14th, 19th, and 24th stories. The 25th and 26th stories, above the topmost belt course, are separated by dark-bronze spandrels. The 27th floor contains a canopy of projecting terracotta ogee arches. These decorative features make the tower section "appear to merge with the atmosphere", as architectural writer Donald Reynolds described it. Above the 28th floor, a two-story-tall copper roof with complex tracery in the Gothic style tops the canopies. The 29th and 30th stories of the north and south wings are of similar depth to the six narrow bays on the Park Place and Barclay Street elevations but contain five bays. A small tower with three bays caps these wings.


title: Woolworth Building

text: The 30th through 45th floors contain three bays on each elevation; the side bays contain two windows, while the center bay contains three windows. The 46th through 53rd floors also have three bays on each elevation, but the side bays only contain one window. At the 45th- and 50th-story setbacks, there are turrets at each corner of the tower. The northeast corner turret concealed a smokestack.


title: Woolworth Building

text: There is a pyramidal roof above the 53rd floor, as well as four ornamental tourelles at the four corners of the tower. The roof was originally gilt but is now green. The pyramidal roof, as well as the smaller roofs below, used of gold leaf. The main roof is interspersed with small dormers, which contain windows into the maintenance levels inside. The pyramidal roof is topped by another pyramid with an octagonal base and tall pointed-arch windows. In turn, the octagonal pyramid is capped by a spire. The three layers of pyramids are about , or five stories tall. An observation deck was located at the 55th floor, about above ground level. It was patronized by an estimated 300,000 visitors per year but was closed as a security measure in 1941 after the Pearl Harbor attack.


title: Woolworth Building

text: Engineers Gunvald Aus and Kort Berle designed the steel frame, supported on massive caissons that penetrate to the bedrock. To give the structure a sturdy foundation, the builders used metal tubes in diameter filled with concrete. These tubes were driven into the ground with a pneumatic caisson process to anchor the foundations to the bedrock. The underlying bedrock is an average of deep, and the 69 caissons range in depth from . Because the slope of the bedrock was so sharp, steps had to be carved into the rock before the caissons could be sunk into the ground. The caissons were both round and rectangular, with the rectangular caissons located mainly on the southern and western lot lines. Where the superstructure's columns did not match up with the caissons, they were cantilevered above on plate girders between two adjoining caissons. Each column carries a load of , supporting the building's overall weight of .


title: Woolworth Building

text: For the wind bracing, the entire Woolworth Building was considered as a vertical cantilever, and correspondingly large girders and columns were used in the construction. Continuous portal bracing was used between the 1st and 28th floors, except in the interior columns, where triangular bracing was used. The portal braces on the building's exterior direct crosswinds downward toward the ground, rather than into the building. Interconnecting trusses were placed at five-floor intervals between the tower and the wings; these, as well as the side and court walls, provided the bracing for the wings. Above the 28th floor, knee braces and column-girder connections were used; hollow-tile floors were installed because it would have taken too long to set the concrete floors, especially during cold weather. The two basement levels used reinforced concrete.


title: Woolworth Building

text: Strongly articulated piers, which carry right to the pyramidal cap without intermediate cornices, give the building its upward thrust. This was influenced by Aus's belief that, "From an engineering point of view, no structure is beautiful where the lines of strength are not apparent." The copper roof is connected to the Woolworth Building's steel superstructure, which serves to ground the roof electrically. The Gothic detailing concentrated at the highly visible crown is over-scaled, and the building's silhouette could be made out from several miles away. Gilbert's choice of the Gothic style was described as "an expression of the verticality of the tower form", and as Gilbert himself later wrote, the style was "light, graceful, delicate and flame-like".


title: Woolworth Building

text: When the Woolworth Building was being erected, Gilbert considered several proposals for exterior lighting to emphasize the structure's form and size. These included placing four powerful searchlights atop nearby buildings and a constantly rotating lamp at the apex of the Woolworth Building's roof. Ultimately, the builders decided to erect nitrogen lamps and reflectors above the 31st floor, and have the intensity of the lighting increase with height.


title: Woolworth Building

text: Upon completion, the Woolworth Building contained seven water systems—one each for the power plant, the hot-water plant, the fire-protection system, the communal restrooms, the offices with restrooms, the basement swimming pool and the basement restaurant. There are water tanks on the 14th, 27th, 28th, 50th, and 53rd floors. Although the water is obtained from the New York City water supply system, much of it is filtered and reused. A dedicated water system, separate from the city's, was proposed during construction, but workers abandoned the plan after unsuccessfully digging into Manhattan's bedrock.


title: Woolworth Building

text: The Woolworth Building was the first structure to have its own power plant with four Corliss steam engine generators totaling a capacity of ; the plant could support 50,000 people. The building also had a dedicated heating plant with six boilers with a capacity of . The boilers were fed from subterranean coal bunkers capable of holding over 2,000 tons of anthracite coal.


title: Woolworth Building

text: The ornate, cruciform lobby, known as the "arcade", was characterized by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) as "one of the most spectacular of the early 20th century in New York City". It consists of two perpendicular, double-height passageways with barrel-vaulted ceilings. One passageway runs between the arcade's west wing at the Woolworth Building's "staircase hall" and the east wing at Broadway. The other runs between the north wing at Park Place and the south wing at Barclay Street. A mezzanine crosses the arcade's north and south wings. Where the passageways intersect, there is a domed ceiling. The dome contains pendentives that may have been patterned after those of the Mausoleum of Galla Placidia. The walls of this intersection vault are laid out in an octagonal shape, with mailboxes at the four intercardinal directions.


title: Woolworth Building

text: Veined marble from the island of Skyros in Greece covers the lobby. Edward F. Caldwell & Co. provided the interior lights for the lobby and hallways. Patterned glass mosaics that contain blue, green, and gold tiling with red accents decorate the ceilings. There are other Gothic-style decorations in the lobby, including on the cornice and the bronze fittings. Twelve plaster brackets, which carry grotesques depicting major figures in the building's construction, are placed where the arcade and the mezzanine intersect. These ornaments include Gilbert with a model of the building, Aus taking a girder's measurements, and Woolworth holding nickels and dimes. Two ceiling murals by C. Paul Jennewein, titled "Labor" and "Commerce", are located above the mezzanine where it crosses the south and north wings, respectively.


title: Woolworth Building

text: The staircase hall is a two-story room located to the west of the arcade. It consists of the ground level, which contains former storefronts, as well as a mezzanine level above it. A marble staircase leads westward from the arcade to a mezzanine, where the entrance to the Irving National Exchange Bank office was formerly located. The mezzanine contains a stained-glass skylight surrounded by the names of several nations. The skylight contains the dates 1879 and 1913, which respectively signify the years of the Woolworth Company's founding and the building's opening. The skylight is also surrounded by sculpted grotesques, which depict merchandising activities in the five-and-dime industry.


title: Woolworth Building

text: There is a smaller space west of the staircase hall with a one-story-high ceiling. This room contains a coffered ceiling with a blue-green background. The crossbeams contain Roman portrait heads, while the cornice contains generic sculpted grotesques. The lobby also contains a set of German chimes designed by Harry Yerkes.


title: Woolworth Building

text: The basement of the Woolworth Building contains an unused bank vault, restaurant, and barbershop. The bank vault was initially intended to be used for safe-deposit boxes, though it was used by the Irving National Exchange Bank in practice. In 1931, Irving moved some $3 billion of deposits to a vault in its new headquarters at 1 Wall Street, and the Woolworth Building's vault was converted into a storage area for maintenance workers.


title: Woolworth Building

text: The basement also contains closed entrances to two New York City Subway stations. There was an entrance to the Park Place station directly adjacent to the building's northelevation, served by the . This entrance was closed after the September 11 attacks. Another entrance led to the City Hall station one block north, now served by the , but this was closed in 1982 because of concerns over crime. The area in front of the former entrances is now used to store bikes.


title: Woolworth Building

text: A private pool, originally intended for F. W. Woolworth, exists in the basement. Proposed as early as 1910, the pool measured and was later drained. It was restored in the mid-2010s as part of the conversion of the Woolworth Building's upper floors into residential units.


title: Woolworth Building

text: At the time of construction, the Woolworth Building had over 2,000 offices. Each office had ceilings ranging from high. Gilbert had designed the interior to maximize the amount of usable office space, and correspondingly, minimize the amount of space taken up by the elevator shafts. The usable-space consideration affected the placement of the columns in the wings; the columns in the main tower were positioned according to the location of the elevator shafts and facade piers.


title: Woolworth Building

text: Woolworth's private office on the 24th floor, revetted in green marble in the French Empire style, is preserved in its original condition. His office included a mahogany desk with a leather top measuring . The marble columns in the office are capped by gilded Corinthian capitals. Woolworth's reception room contained objects that were inspired by a visit to the Château de Compiègne shortly after the building opened. These included a bronze bust of Napoleon, a set of French Empire-style lamps with gold figures, and an inkwell with a depiction of Napoleon on horseback.


title: Woolworth Building

text: The Woolworth Building contains a system of high-speed elevators capable of traveling or per minute. The Otis Elevator Company supplied the units, which were innovative in that there were "express" elevators, stopping only at certain floors, and "local" elevators, stopping at every floor between a certain range. There were 26 Otis electric elevators with gearless traction, as well as an electric-drum shuttle elevator within the tower once construction was complete.


title: Woolworth Building

text: The elevators are accessed from bays in the eastern and western walls of the arcade. The walls are both divided by two bays with round arches, and there are four elevators on each wall. The elevator doors in the lobby were designed by Tiffany Studios. The patterns on the doors have been described as "arabesque tracery patterns in etched steel set off against a gold-plated background".


title: Woolworth Building

text: F. W. Woolworth, an entrepreneur who had become successful because of his "Five-and-Dime" (5- and 10-cent stores), began planning a new headquarters for the F. W. Woolworth Company in 1910. Around the same time, Woolworth's friend Lewis Pierson was having difficulty getting shareholder approval for the merger of his Irving National Bank and the rival New York Exchange Bank. Woolworth offered to acquire shares in New York Exchange Bank and vote in favor of the merger if Pierson agreed to move the combined banks' headquarters to a new building he was planning as the F. W. Woolworth Company's headquarters. Having received a commitment from the banks, Woolworth acquired a corner site on Broadway and Park Place in Lower Manhattan, opposite City Hall. The entrepreneur briefly considered purchasing a plot at West Broadway and Reade Street, a few blocks north of the Woolworth Building's current site. Woolworth decided against it because of the prestige that a Broadway address provided (despite its name, West Broadway was a separate street running several blocks from Broadway).


title: Woolworth Building

text: Woolworth and the Irving National Exchange Bank then set up the Broadway-Park Place Company to construct and finance the proposed structure. Initially, the bank was supposed to purchase the company's stock gradually until it owned the entire company, and thus, the Woolworth Building. Irving would be able to manage the 18 floors of rentable space on a 25-year lease. While negotiations to create the Broadway-Park Place Company were ongoing, Woolworth and his real estate agent Edward J. Hogan purchased several parcels from the Trenor Luther Park estate and other owners. The entire footprint of the current building, a rectangular lot, had been acquired by April 15, 1910, at a total cost of $1.65 million.


title: Woolworth Building

text: Woolworth commissioned Cass Gilbert to design the new building. There are few print documents that indicate early correspondence between Woolworth and Gilbert, and news articles as late as March 1910 mentioned that no architect had been chosen. Gilbert later mentioned that he had received the commission for the Woolworth Building after getting a phone call from Woolworth one day. The architect had recently finished designing the nearby Broadway–Chambers Building and 90 West Street, whose architecture Woolworth admired. Woolworth wanted his new structure to be of similar design to the Palace of Westminster in London, which was designed in the Gothic style. At the time, Gilbert was well known for constructing modern skyscrapers with historicizing design elements.


title: Woolworth Building

text: Gilbert was originally retained to design a standard 12- to 16-story commercial building for Woolworth, who later said he "had no desire to erect a monument that would cause posterity to remember me". 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 . A drawing by Thomas R. Johnson, dated April 22, 1910, shows a 30-story building rising from the site. Because of the change in plans, the organization of the Broadway-Park Place Company was rearranged. Woolworth would now be the major partner, contributing $1 million of the planned $1.5 million cost. The Irving Bank would pay the balance, and it would take up a 25-year lease for the ground floor, fourth floor, and basement.


title: Woolworth Building

text: By September 1910, Gilbert had designed an even taller structure, with a 40-story tower on Park Place adjacent to a shorter 25-story annex, yielding a -tall building. The next month, Gilbert's latest design had evolved into a 45-story tower roughly the height of the nearby Singer Building. After the latest design, Woolworth wrote to Gilbert in November 1910 and asked for the building's height to be increased to , which was taller than the Singer Building, Lower Manhattan's tallest building. Woolworth was inspired by his travels in Europe, where he would constantly be asked about the Singer Building. He decided that housing his company in an even taller building would provide invaluable advertising for the F. W. Woolworth Company and make it renowned worldwide. This design, unveiled to the public the same month, was a 45-story tower rising , sitting on a lot by . Referring to the revised plans, Woolworth said, "I do not want a mere building. I want something that will be an ornament to the city." He later said that he wanted visitors to brag that they had visited the world's tallest building. Louis J. Horowitz, president of the building's main contractor Thompson-Starrett Company, said of Woolworth, "Beyond a doubt his ego was a thing of extraordinary size; whoever tried to find a reason for his tall building and did not take that fact into account would reach a false conclusion."


title: Woolworth Building

text: Even after the revised height was unveiled, Woolworth still yearned to make the building even taller as it was now close to the height of the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company Tower, then the tallest building in New York City and the world. On December 20, 1910, Woolworth sent a team of surveyors to measure the Metropolitan Life Tower's height and come up with a precise measurement, so he could make his skyscraper taller. He then ordered Gilbert to revise the building's design to reach , despite ongoing worries over whether the additional height would be worth the increased cost. In order to fit the larger base that a taller tower necessitated, Woolworth bought the remainder of the frontage on Broadway between Park Place and Barclay Street. He also 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. Such a tall building would produce the largest income of any building globally.


title: Woolworth Building

text: On January 1, 1911, the "New York Times" reported Woolworth was planning a building at a cost of $5 million. By January 18, 1911, Woolworth and Hogan had acquired the final site for the project at a total cost of $4.5 million; the lot measured on Broadway, on Barclay Street, and on Park Place. In a "New York Times" article two days later, Woolworth said that his building would rise to its tip. In order to fit the correct architectural proportions, Gilbert redesigned the building to its current height. Renderings by illustrator Hughson Hawley, completed in April 1911, are the first official materials that reflect this final height.


title: Woolworth Building

text: Gilbert had to reconcile both Woolworth's and Pierson's strict requirements for the design of the structure. The architect's notes describe late-night conversations that he had with both men. The current design of the lobby, with its arcade, reflected these conflicting pressures. Sometimes, Gilbert also faced practical conundrums, such as Woolworth's requirement that there be "many windows so divided that all of the offices should be well lighted", and so that tenants could erect partitions to fit their needs. Gilbert wrote this "naturally prevented any broad wall space". Woolworth and Gilbert sometimes clashed during the design process, especially because of the constantly changing designs and the architect's fees. Nevertheless, Gilbert commended Woolworth's devotion to the details and beauty of the building's design, as well as the entrepreneur's enthusiasm for the project. Such was the scale of the building that, for several years, Gilbert's sense of scale was "destroyed [...] because of the unprecedented attuning of detail to, for these days, such an excessive height".


title: Woolworth Building

text: In September 1910, wrecking crews demolished the five and six-story structures which previously occupied the site. Construction officially began on November 4, 1910, with excavation by The Foundation Company, using a contract negotiated personally by Frank Woolworth. The start of construction instantly raised the site's value from $2.25 million to $3.2 million. The contract of over $1 million was described as the largest contract for foundation construction ever awarded in the world.


title: Woolworth Building

text: It took months for Woolworth to decide upon the general construction company. George A. Fuller's Fuller Company was well experienced and had practically invented skyscraper construction, but Louis Horowitz's Thompson-Starrett Company was local to New York; despite being newer, Horowitz had worked for Fuller before, and thus had a similar knowledge base. On April 20, 1911, Thompson-Starrett won the contract with a guaranteed construction price of $4,308,500 for the building's frame and structural elements. The company was paid $300,000 for their oversight and management work, despite Woolworth's attempts to get the company to do the job for free due to the prestige of the project. On June 12, 1911, the Atlantic Terra Cotta Company received a $250,000 contract to manufacture the terracotta. The next month, Donnelly and Ricci received the $11,500 contract for the terracotta work and some of the interior design work. Gilbert requested Atlantic Terra Cotta use an office next to his while they drew several hundred designs.


title: Woolworth Building

text: The construction process involved hundreds of workers, and daily wages ranged from $1.50 for laborers () to $4.50 for skilled workers (). By August 1911, the building's foundations were completed ahead of the target date of September 15; construction of the skyscraper's steel frame began August 15. The steel beams and girders used in the framework weighed so much that, to prevent the streets from caving in, a group of surveyors examined them on the route along which the beams would be transported. The American Bridge Company provided steel for the building from their foundries in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh; manufacturing took over 45 weeks.


title: Woolworth Building

text: The first above-ground steel had been erected by October 1911, and installation of the building's terracotta began on February 1, 1912. The building rose at the rate of stories a week and the steelworkers set a speed record for assembling 1,153 tons of steel in six consecutive eight-hour days. By February 18, 1912, work on the steel frame had reached the building's 18th floor. By April 6, 1912, the steel frame had reached the top of the base at the 30th floor and work then began on constructing the tower of the Woolworth Building. Steel reached the 47th floor by May 30 and the official topping out ceremony took place two weeks ahead of schedule on July 1, 1912, as the last rivet was driven into the summit of the tower. The skyscraper was substantially completed by the end of that year.


title: Woolworth Building

text: The building opened on April 24, 1913. Woolworth held a grand dinner on the building's 27th floor for over 900 guests, and at exactly 7:30 p.m. EST, President Woodrow Wilson pushed a button in Washington, D.C., to turn on the building's lights. Attendees included: Francis Hopkinson Smith, who served as toastmaster; author William Winter; businessmen Patrick Francis Murphy and Charles M. Schwab; Rhode Island Governor Aram J. Pothier; Judge Thomas C. T. Crain; US Senator from Arkansas Joseph Taylor Robinson; Ecuadorian minister Gonzalo Córdova; New York Supreme Court Justices Charles L. Guy and Edward Everett McCall; Commissioner of Education of the State of New York John Huston Finley; Collector of the Port of New York William Loeb Jr.; naval architect Lewis Nixon; Rear Admiral Charles Dwight Sigsbee; Commissioner of Docks and Ferries of the City of New York R. A. C. Smith; Colonel William Conant Church; United States Representative from New York Herman A. Metz; New York City Police Commissioner Rhinelander Waldo; banker James Speyer; former Lieutenant Governor of New York Timothy L. Woodruff; writer Robert Sterling Yard; Admiral Albert Gleaves; and reportedly between 69 and 80 congressmen who arrived via a special train from Washington, DC. Additional congratulations were sent via letter from former President William Howard Taft, Governor of New Jersey James Fairman Fielder and United States Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels.


title: Woolworth Building

text: 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. The final estimated construction cost was (), up from the initial estimates of for the shorter versions of the skyscraper (). This was divided into $5 million for the land, $1 million for the foundation, and $7 million for the structure. Woolworth provided $5 million, while investors provided the remainder, and financing was completed by August 1911. By May 1914, Woolworth had purchased all of the Broadway-Park Place Company's shares from the Irving National Exchange Bank. Though Woolworth owned the building, his company did not. The building contained offices for as many as 14,000 employees.


title: Woolworth Building

text: The building was declared ready for occupancy on May 1, 1913, and Woolworth began advertising the offices for rent beginning at $4.00 per square foot. To attract tenants, Woolworth hired architecture critic Montgomery Schuyler to write a 56-page brochure outlining the building's features. Schuyler later described the Woolworth Building as the "noblest offspring" of buildings erected with steel skeletons. By the end of 1914, the building was 70% occupied and generating over $1.3 million a year in rents for the F. W. Woolworth Company. By the 1920s, the building had more than a thousand different tenants, who generally occupied suites of one or two rooms. These tenants reportedly collectively employed over 12,000 people who worked within the building.


title: Woolworth Building

text: In 1920, after F. W. Woolworth died, his heirs took out a $3 million mortgage loan on the Woolworth Building from Prudential Life Insurance Company to pay off $8 million in inheritance tax. By this point, the building was worth $10 million and grossed $1.55 million per year in rent income. The Broadway-Park Place Corporation sold the building to Woolco Realty Co., a subsidiary of the F. W. Woolworth Company, in April 1924 for $11 million. The company paid $4 million in cash and obtained a five-year, $11 million mortgage from Prudential Life Insurance Company at an annual interest rate of 5.5%.


title: Woolworth Building

text: During World War I, only one of the Woolworth Building's then-14 elevators was turned on, and many lighting fixtures in hallways and offices were turned off. This resulted in about a 70% energy reduction compared to peacetime requirements. This policy was reinstated during World War II: ten of the building's 24 elevators were temporarily disabled in 1944 because of a shortage of coal.


title: Woolworth Building

text: In 1927, the building's pinnacle was painted green and the observation tower was regilded in gold at a cost of over $25,000. The Atlantic Terra Cotta Company cleaned the Woolworth Building's facade in 1932. By 1953, a new chilled water air conditioning system had been installed, bringing individual room temperature control to a third of the building. The old car-switch-control elevators had been replaced with a new automatic dispatching systems and new elevator cars. However, the building's terracotta facade deteriorated easily, and by 1962, repairs to the terracotta tiles were occurring year-round.


title: Woolworth Building

text: The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission considered giving the Woolworth Building official city-landmark status in 1970. The F. W. Woolworth Company called the landmark law "onerous" since it would restrict the company from making modifications to many aspects of the building. The commission ultimately declined to give the Woolworth Building a designated-landmark status because of the company's opposition to such a measure, as well as the increased costs and scrutiny. The F. W. Woolworth Company commissioned an appraisal of the building's facade in 1975 and found serious deterioration in the building's terracotta. Many of the blocks of terracotta had loosened or cracked from the constant thermal expansion and contraction caused by New York's climate. The cracks in the facade let in rain, which caused the steel superstructure to rust.


title: Woolworth Building

text: In 1977, the F. W. Woolworth Company began a five-year restoration of the building's terracotta and limestone facade, as well as replacement of all the building's windows. Initially, the company had considered replacing the entire terracotta facade with concrete to prevent further deterioration, but backed away from the plan due to cost and potential backlash from preservationists. The renovation involved the replacement of roughly one-fifth of the building's terracotta surface. as well as all of the building's windows, by Turner Construction under a plan by the New York architectural firm Ehrenkrantz Group. Since terracotta had become rare in the 1970s, few manufacturers remained to supply replacement tiles, so the company replaced 26,000 of the tiles with concrete lookalikes; many of those tiles had to be custom-cut. The concrete was coated with a surface that was meant to be replaced at five-year intervals, a similar replacement cycle to the glaze on the terracotta blocks. Similarly, the original copper windows were replaced with aluminum frames which allowed them to be opened, whereas the originals were sealed in place. The company also removed some decorative flying buttresses near the tower's crown and refaced four tourelles in aluminum because of damage.


title: Woolworth Building

text: The renovation was completed in 1982. When the work began, it was expected to cost just $8 million, but the final cost was over $22 million. Much of the renovation was financed through an $11.4 million tax break from the New York City government. The same year the renovation was completed, the building's entrance to the City Hall subway station was closed because of fears over crime. A year later, in 1983, the Landmarks Preservation Commission revisited the building and granted landmark protection to its exterior and facade. The building was owned by the F. W. Woolworth Company (later Venator Group) until 1998. After struggling financially for years, and with no need for a trophy office building, Venator Group began discussing a sale of the building in 1996.


title: Woolworth Building

text: Venator Group sold the building in June 1998 to Steve Witkoff's Witkoff Group and Lehman Brothers for $155 million. The F. W. Woolworth Company shrunk its space in the building from eight floors to four; this was a sharp contrast to the 25 floors the company had occupied at its peak. Witkoff also agreed to license the Woolworth name and invest $30 million in renovating the exterior and interior of the building. After purchasing the building, the Witkoff Group rebranded it in an attempt to attract entertainment and technology companies. In April 2000, the Venator Group officially moved their headquarters out of the building to 112 West 34th Street. In October 2000, the company proposed a 2-story addition to the 29th-floor setbacks on the north and southelevations of the tower, to be designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, who were also leading the renovation of the building. However, the proposal was unanimously voted down by the Landmarks Preservation Commission.


title: Woolworth Building

text: The company unveiled an ambitious plan in November 2000 that would have converted the top 27 floors of the building into 75 condominiums, including a five-story penthouse. The plan would have included a new residential lobby on Park Place, a 100-space garage, a 75-seat underground screening room, and a spa in the basement. The developers planned to spend $60 to $70 million on the conversion and to be ready for occupancy by August 2002. However, the Landmarks Preservation Commission opposed the plan because it would have required exterior changes to the roof. The commission eventually approved a version of the plan. Following the September 11 attacks, and the subsequent collapse of the nearby World Trade Center, the status of the plan was in doubt, and the proposal was later canceled.


title: Woolworth Building

text: Prior to the September 11 attacks, the World Trade Center was often photographed in such a way that the Woolworth Building could be seen between the complex's twin towers. After the attacks occurred only a few blocks away, the Woolworth Building was without electricity, water and telephone service for a few weeks; its windows were broken, and falling rubble damaged a top turret. Increased post-attack security restricted access to most of the ornate lobby, previously a tourist attraction. "New York Times" reporter David W. Dunlap wrote in 2006 that a security guard had asked him to leave within twelve seconds of entering the Woolworth Building. However, there was renewed interest in restoring public access to the Woolworth Building during planning for its centennial celebrations. The lobby reopened to public tours in 2014, when Woolworth Tours started accommodating groups for 30- to 90-minute tours. The tours were part of a partnership between Cass Gilbert's great-granddaughter, Helen Post Curry, and Witkoff's vice president for development, Roy A. Suskin.


title: Woolworth Building

text: In June 2003, Credit Suisse First Boston provided $201 million in financing for the property spread across a $125.4 million senior loan, a $49.6 million junior interest and a $26 million mezzanine loan. In April 2005, Bank of America provided a $250 million commercial mortgage-backed security interest-only loan on the office portion of the building. At the time, the building was 96% occupied, appraised at $320 million, and generated almost $18 million a year in net operating income.


title: Woolworth Building

text: By 2007, the concrete blocks on the Woolworth Building's facade had deteriorated because of neglect. A lack of regular re-surfacing had led to water and dirt absorption, which stained the concrete blocks. Though terracotta's popularity had increased since the 1970s, Suskin had declined to say whether the facade would be modified, if at all. Around the same time, Witkoff planned to partner with Rubin Schron to create an "office club" on the top 25 floors building to attract high-end tenants like hedge funds and private equity firms. The plan would have restored the 58th floor observatory as a private amenity for "office club" tenants, in addition to amenities like a private dining room, meeting rooms, and a new dedicated lobby. The partners planned to complete the project by the end of 2008, but the financial crisis of 2007–2008 derailed the plans, leaving the top floors gutted and vacant.


title: Woolworth Building

text: On July 31, 2012, an investment group led by New York developer Alchemy Properties which included Adam Neumann and Joel Schreiber, bought the top 30 floors of the skyscraper for $68 million from the Witkoff Group and Cammeby's International. The firm planned to renovate the space into 33 luxury apartments and convert the penthouse into a five-level living space. The lower 28 floors are still owned by the Witkoff Group and Cammeby's International, who planned to maintain them as office space. The project was expected to cost approximately $150 million including the $68 million purchase price. The Landmarks Preservation Commission approved the changes to the building in October 2013.


title: Woolworth Building

text: The renovation included many restorations and changes to the building's interior. Two of the elevator shafts only went to the 29th floor, allowing extra floor space for the residents above. A new private lobby was also built for residents and the coffered ceiling from F.W. Woolworth's personal 40th floor office was relocated to the entryway. Thierry Despont and Eve Robinson designed the building's new interiors with Miele appliances and custom cabinetry. Each unit also received space in a wine cellar, along with access to the restored private pool in the basement. The 29th floor was converted to an amenity floor named the "Gilbert Lounge" after the structure's architect, while the 30th floor hosts a fitness facility.


title: Woolworth Building

text: In August 2014, the New York Attorney General's office approved Alchemy's plan to sell 34 condos at the newly branded Woolworth Tower Residences for a combined total of $443.7 million. The $110 million price tag for the building's penthouse unit, dubbed "The Pinnacle", was the highest asking price ever for an apartment in downtown Manhattan. If sold, the unit would have surpassed the record $50.9 million penthouse at Ralph Thomas Walker's Walker Tower, and even the $100.5 million record price for a Manhattan penthouse set by Michael Dell at Extell's One57 in 2014. In 2019, the still-vacant penthouse's asking price was reduced to $79 million.


title: Woolworth Building

text: After a soft launch in late 2014, units at the building were officially listed for sale in mid-2015. Alchemy initially intended to leverage an in-house sales staff and hired a director from Corcoran Sunshine to lead the effort. However, the new sales director left at the end of 2015 for Extell Development Company amid rumors of slow sales at the project. Following his departure, the company hired Sotheby's International Realty to market the units. In June 2016, United Overseas Bank of Singapore provided a $220 million construction loan for the project.


title: Woolworth Building

text: In 2015, The Blackstone Group provided a $320 million loan on the office portion of the building to refinance the maturing Bank of America loan from 2005. When the sale was first announced in 2012, the developers expected the building's conversion to be complete by 2015. However, construction of the conversion took longer than expected. Workers could not attach a construction hoist to the building's landmarked facade without damaging it, and they were prohibited from using the elevators because of the active office tenants on the lower floors and the regular public tours of the landmarked lobby. As a result, the conversion was expected to be completed by February or March 2019, about six and a half years after Alchemy bought the property. By February 2019, only three of the building's 31 condos had been sold, since the developers had refused to discount prices, despite a glut of new luxury apartments in New York City.


title: Woolworth Building

text: On the building's completion, the F. W. Woolworth Company occupied only one and a half floors. However, as the owner, the Woolworth Company profited from renting space out to others. 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. The Irving Trust Company occupied the first four floors when the building opened. It had a large banking room on the second floor accessible directly from a grand staircase in the lobby, vaults in the basement, offices on the third-floor mezzanine, and a boardroom on the fourth floor. In 1931, the company relocated their general, out-of-town, and foreign offices from the Woolworth Building after building their own headquarters at 1 Wall Street. Columbia Records was one of the Woolworth Building's tenants on opening day and housed a recording studio in the skyscraper. In 1917, Columbia made what are considered the first jazz recordings, by the Original Dixieland Jass Band, in this studio.


title: Woolworth Building

text: Shortly after the building opened, several railroad companies rented space. The Union Pacific Railroad and Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad occupied the ground floor retail space with ticket offices. Other railroad companies that leased office space included the Alton Railroad, on the 13th floor; the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad (Milwaukee Road), on the 14th floor; the Canadian Pacific Railway, Great Northern Railway, and New York Central Railroad on the 15th floor; the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad, on the 17th floor; the Chicago and North Western Transportation Company, on the 19th floor; the Canadian Northern Railway; the Los Angeles and Salt Lake Railroad; the Pennsylvania Railroad; the Atlanta, Birmingham and Atlantic Railway; the Kansas City Southern Railway; and the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad.


title: Woolworth Building

text: The inventor Nikola Tesla also occupied an office in the Woolworth Building beginning in 1914; he was evicted after a year because he could not pay his rent. "Scientific American" moved into the building in 1915 before departing for Midtown Manhattan in 1926. The Marconi Wireless Telegraph Company of America was present at the building's opening, occupying the southern half of the 18th floor after signing a lease in January 1913. Other early tenants included the American Hardware Manufacturers Association headquarters, the American Association of Foreign Language Newspapers, Colt's Manufacturing Company, Remington Arms, Simmons-Boardman Publishing headquarters, the Taft-Peirce Manufacturing Company, and the Hudson Motor Car Company.


title: Woolworth Building

text: In the 1930s, prosecutor Thomas E. Dewey maintained his offices in the building while investigating racketeering and organized crime in Manhattan. His office took up the entire fourteenth floor and was heavily guarded. The regional headquarters of the National Labor Relations Board also moved into the building in 1937, shortly after its founding in 1935. During World War II, the Kellex Corporation, part of the Manhattan Project to develop nuclear weapons, was based here.


title: Woolworth Building

text: During the early 1960s, public relations expert Howard J. Rubenstein opened an office in the building. In 1975, the city signed a lease for state judge Jacob D. Fuchsberg's offices in the Woolworth Building.


title: Woolworth Building

text: The structure has a long association with higher education, housing a number of Fordham University schools in the early 20th century. 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. The Fordham University Graduate School was founded on the building's 28th floor in the same year and a new Teachers’ College quickly followed on the seventh floor. In September 1920, the Business School was also established on the seventh floor, originally as the School of Accounting. By 1929, the school's combined programs at the Woolworth Building had over 3,000 enrolled students. Between 1916 and 1943 the building was also home at various times to the Fordham College (Manhattan Division), a summer school, and the short-lived School of Irish Studies. In 1943, the Graduate School relocated to Keating Hall at Fordham's Rose Hill campus in Fordham, Bronx, and the rest of the schools moved to nearby 302 Broadway because of reduced attendance because of World War II.


title: Woolworth Building

text: The New York University School of Professional Studies' Center for Global Affairs leased on the second, third, and fourth floors in 2002 from defunct dot-com startup FrontLine Capital Group. The American Institute of Graphic Arts also moved its headquarters in the Woolworth Building.


title: Woolworth Building

text: By the early 2000s, the Woolworth Building was home to numerous technology tenants. Digital advertising firm Xceed occupied across four floors as its headquarters, Organic, Inc. took , and advertising agency Fallon Worldwide used two floors. However, Xceed terminated its lease in April 2001 during the midst of the Dot-com bubble collapse in order to move to smaller offices in the Starrett–Lehigh Building. One month after the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's Northeast Regional Office at 7 World Trade Center was destroyed in the September 11 attacks, the commission's 334 employees moved into across five floors of the Woolworth Building. The Commission left for a larger space in Brookfield Place less than four years later in 2005. The General Services Administration took over the commission's space on November 1, 2005 and used it as offices for approximately 200 staff of the Administrative Office of the United States Courts and U.S. Probation and Pretrial Services System. Following the completion of renovations at the historic Thurgood Marshall United States Courthouse in late October 2017, both offices moved into newly vacated space in the nearby Daniel Patrick Moynihan United States Courthouse.


title: Woolworth Building

text: The New York City Police Department pension fund signed a lease for on the 19th and 25th floors in April 2002. The pension fund renewed their lease for another 20-year term in October 2010. Starbucks opened a location on the ground floor in the spring of 2003. In 2006, Levitz Furniture moved its headquarters to the 23rd floor of the building from Woodbury, Long Island, after declaring bankruptcy a second time. The design firm Control Group Inc. leased an entire floor of the Woolworth Building in 2006.


title: Woolworth Building

text: , the Lawrence Group handles leasing at the Woolworth Building. In May 2013, SHoP Architects moved the company's headquarters to the building's entire 11th floor, occupying of space. In February 2016, the New York City Law Department leased the building's entire fifth floor for the Department's tort office. Joseph Altuzarra's namesake fashion brand, Altuzarra, signed on to occupy the 14th floor in June 2016. In November 2017, Thomas J. Watson's Watson Foundation signed a lease to relocate to the 27th floor of the building. In 2017, the New York Shipping Exchange moved into the 21st floor of the building. In May 2018, architecture and design firm CallisonRTKL signed a lease for the building's entire 16th floor. The Vera Institute of Justice left the building's 12th floor a few months later, moving into a larger space in Industry City, Brooklyn.


title: Woolworth Building

text: The 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. Before beginning construction, Woolworth hired New York photographer Irving Underhill to document the building's construction. These photographs were distributed to Woolworth's stores nationwide to generate enthusiasm for the project. During construction, Underhill, Wurts Brothers, and Tebbs-Hymans each took photographs to document the structure's progression. These photos were often taken from close-up views, or from far away to provide contrast against the surrounding structures. They were part of a media promotion for the Woolworth Building. Both contemporary and modern figures criticized the photos as "'standard solutions' at best and 'architectural eye candy' at worst". It was largely effective: in a 2001 book about Cass Gilbert, Mary N. Woods writes that "the rich and varied afterlife of the Woolworth Building ... enhances [Gilbert's] accomplishment". Dirk Stichweh described the building as being "the Mozart of skysrapers".


title: Woolworth Building

text: One of the earliest films to feature the skyscraper was the 1921 film "Manhatta" (1921), a short documentary film directed by painter Charles Sheeler and photographer Paul Strand. Since then, the building has made cameo appearances in several films— for instance, the 1929 film "Applause". It was also the setting of several film climaxes, such as in "Enchanted" (2007), as well as used for the setting of major organizations, such as in "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them" (2016). The television show "Ugly Betty" used the Woolworth Building as the 'Meade Publications' building, a major location in the series. The Woolworth Building has also appeared in works of literature, such as Langston Hughes's 1926 poem "Negro" and the 2007 novel "Peak". A one-third-scale replica of the Woolworth Building, the Lincoln American Tower in Memphis, Tennessee, was also built in 1924.


title: Dream On (Aerosmith song)

text: "Dream On" is a power ballad by Aerosmith from their 1973 debut album, "Aerosmith". Written by lead singer Steven Tyler, this song was their first major hit and became a classic rock radio staple. Released in June 1973, it peaked at number 59 on the "Billboard" Hot 100 but hit big in the band's native Boston, where it was the number one single of the year on WBZ-FM, number five for the year on WRKO and number 16 on WMEX (AM). The song also received immediate heavy airplay on the former WVBF (FM), often showing up in the #1 position on "The Top Five at Five" in June 1973.


title: Dream On (Aerosmith song)

text: The album version of "Dream On" (4:28, as opposed to the 3:25 1973 45 rpm edit where most of the intro has been edited out and the first chorus is replaced with the second chorus) was re-issued in late 1975, debuting at number 81 on the "Billboard" Hot 100 chart on January 10, 1976, breaking into the top 40 on February 14 and peaking at number 6 on April 10. Columbia Records chose to service top 40 radio stations with both long and short versions of the song, thus many 1976 pop radio listeners were exposed to the group's first top 10 effort through the 45 edit.


title: Dream On (Aerosmith song)

text: In 2004, "Rolling Stone" magazine ranked the song at number 172 on its list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. It was moved to number 173 in 2010, and re-ranked at number 199 in 2021. In 2007, Aerosmith would perform a re-recording of the song, amongst some of their other songs, for the game as the master track was missing during the game's development. In 2018, the song was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.


title: Dream On (Aerosmith song)

text: In a 2011 interview, Tyler reminisced about his father, a Juilliard-trained musician. He recalled lying beneath his dad's piano as a three-year-old listening to him play classical music. "That's where I got that "Dream On" chordage", he said. Lyrical composition was completed when Steven was 14 years old.


title: Dream On (Aerosmith song)

text: In the authorized Stephen Davis band memoir "Walk This Way", Tyler speaks at length about the origins of the songs:


title: Dream On (Aerosmith song)

text: "Cash Box" said that "the hard surface is there but Tyler's plaintive vocals and some economical muscular riffing make 'Dream On' a thinker as well as a mover."


title: Dream On (Aerosmith song)

text: Long a concert staple, the song's piano part has been played live by Tyler. The band has also played "Dream On" with an orchestra on occasion. One of these performances, conducted by Michael Kamen, was performed live for MTV's 10th Anniversary (in 1991) and included on the soundtrack for the movie "Last Action Hero".


title: Dream On (Aerosmith song)

text: On September 19, 2006, Aerosmith dedicated the song to captured Israeli soldier Ehud Goldwasser. On September 22, 2007, at a concert in Atlantic City, New Jersey, Aerosmith dedicated the song to one of their fans, Monica Massaro, who had been murdered earlier that year. On May 25, 2011, Tyler performed a brief rendition of the song live during the finale of the tenth season of "American Idol".


title: Dream On (Aerosmith song)

text: In 2006, Tyler and Joe Perry performed the song live with the Boston Pops Orchestra at their Fourth of July spectacular. In August 2010, Tyler performed much of the song on a grand piano on top of the Green Monster at an Aerosmith concert at Boston's Fenway Park, joined by the rest of the band to close out the song. After the Boston Marathon bombing, Tyler performed the song at the Boston Strong concert in late May 2013.