On this day in New York · July 20, 1899
The Park Row Building Tops Out as the World's Tallest Office
Thirty-one stories of brick and steel rose over Printing House Square, and for nearly a decade no office building on earth stood taller.
The facts
- Completed
- July 20, 1899
- Location
- Park Row, across from City Hall, Manhattan
- Height
- 391 feet, thirty-one stories
- Distinction
- The tallest office building in the world until 1908
On July 20, 1899, the Park Row Building was completed on Park Row across from City Hall, rising 391 feet over the newspaper offices of Printing House Square. Designed by R. H. Robertson, its thirty-one stories made it the tallest building in New York and the tallest office building in the world, a title it held until the Singer Building passed it in 1908. Twin cupolas capped a facade that critics found overstuffed, but the height was the whole point. It went up in the years when steel framing and the safety elevator were letting New York build toward the sky for the first time.
In their words
The day in the words of the people who were there. Every quote is verbatim, and every source links out so you can check it.
-
The Park Row Building was completed on July 20, 1899, after two years and nine months of construction
Park Row Building, Wikipedia
Source: Park Row Building, Wikipedia
Why it still matters
The Park Row Building was a preview of the skyline to come, built when Lower Manhattan was becoming the laboratory for the tall building. It still stands, dwarfed now by the towers it helped make thinkable.
Sources
Get the day it happened, the day it happens.
Every morning brief ends with this day in New York history, and every day adds a page to this almanac. Free, in your inbox.
Free to start. The unsubscribe link actually works.