Broadway Looking South from Vesey, New York City
The view looking south on Broadway between 1905 and 1908, toward the Singer Building, which was under construction at the time. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress, Detroit Publishing Company Collection.
The view in 2014:
When it was completed in 1908, the Singer Building was the tallest in the world, although it lots its title just a year later, when the uptown Metropolitan Life Insurance Company Tower was completed. It was the headquarters of the Singer Manufacturing Company, of sewing machine fame. It was demolished in 1968, and to this day holds the title of the tallest building ever intentionally demolished by its owner (the qualifications being necessary because of the destruction of the Twin Towers on 9/11, right across the street from the location of the Singer Building). It was replaced by the architecturally-insignificant One Liberty Plaza, the black skyscraper in the center of the photo. Because of its location opposite the World Trade Center site (the right-hand side of the building from this perspective), it received some minor damage following the September 11 attacks. Incidentally, there is at least one building that is visible in both photos – the Trinity Building, with the cupola, visible just beyond One Liberty Plaza, was completed in 1905 and still stands today.
Categories 1900s, Commercial Buildings, Detroit Publishing Company, New York, New York City, Street Scenes Tags Broadway NYC, Singer Building Post navigation
Newspaper Row, New York City
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Comestiblog
The older photograph—taken in 1907—also shows the concurrent construction of the adjacent City Investing Building, whose slender eastern wing rises in the foreground and obstructs the view to the lower portion of the Singer Building. The two buildings were demolished about the same time to make way for the 54-story U.S. Steel Building, now known as One Liberty Plaza.