lEx IGtbrt0 
 
 SEYMOUR DURST 
 
 When you leave, please leave this hook 
 
 Because it has heen said 
 "Sver'thing comes t' him who waits 
 
 E:Kcept a loaned hook." 
 
 Avery Architectural and Fine Arts Library 
 Gift of Seymour B. Durst Old York Library 
 
CI, 
 
 Copyright, 1917, by Broadway Park Place Co. 
 Copyright, 1921, by Broadway Park Place Co. 
 All Rights Reserved 
 
 THIS BOOK WAS DESIGNED 
 
 AND MADE BY THE 
 THOMSEN-ELLIS COMPANY 
 BALTIMORE AND NEW YORK 
 
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 FOREWORD 
 
 S. PARKES CADMAN, D.D., S.T.D., L.H.D. 
 
 HE man who proposes and the architect who designs 
 a truly great building confer a lasting favor on the 
 race at large. Our indebtedness to those who con- 
 structed the Parthenon, the Coliseum at Rome, St. 
 Peter's Cathedral in that city, St. Paul's in London, 
 St. Mark's in \^eniceand the pure Gothic of St. Chapelle and Notre 
 Dame in Paris is utterly beyond ordinary methods of computa- 
 tion. These monuments of rare beauty, devotion and ci\ ic pride 
 far outlast other achievements of their rcspecti\e periods. Their 
 true value is not in stone nor in gold but in the spiritual aspira- 
 tions which they embodied and expressed. Brute material has 
 been robbed of its density and flung into the sky to challenge its 
 lo\'eliness. 
 
 Just as religion monopolized art and architecture during the 
 Medieval epoch, so commerce has engrossed the United States 
 since 1865. The close of the Civil War released the pent-up powers 
 of a young nation, occupying a virgin soil, with the consequences 
 we now witness. ]\Iultitudes flocked to our shores, trade increased 
 by leaps and bounds, railways linked East and West in a conti- 
 nental expanse, cities throve apace. Out of the struggles of this 
 process, not without its pulsive and sordid features, have been 
 developed gratifying benefits. The prairies of Illinois, Indiana, 
 Iowa and the Dakotas have become the granaries of the earth. 
 The mineral treasures of Pennsylvania, Georgia and the States 
 located among the foothills of the Rocky Mountains have been 
 mined and placed at the disposal of nations. These and man}- 
 other enrichments of human life and intercourse received their 
 visible tokens in the steady advancement of general prosperity 
 and welfare. Their metropolitan and financial centers were found 
 in New York. Here, on the Island of Manhattan, and at its south- 
 erly extremity, stands a succession of buildings without precedent 
 or peer. The \ ision of their grandiose efl^cct from the Brooklyn 
 Bridge at dusk, when the gathering darkness softens their bold 
 outlines, and every one of the numberless windows coruscates 
 with radiance, is beyond the brush of Turner to paint or the 
 eloquence of Ruskin to describe. It outvies imagination in its 
 most fertile moments. Of these buildings the Woolworth is Queen, 
 
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 acknowledged as premier by all lovers of the city and the com- 
 monwealth, by critics from near and far, by those who aspire 
 toward perfection, and by those who use visible things to attain 
 it. When seen at nightfall bathed in electric light as with a gar- 
 ment, or in the lucid air of a summer morning, piercing space like 
 a battlement of the paradise of God which St. John beheld, it 
 inspires feelings too dc-ep even for tears. The writer looked upon 
 it and at once cried out, "The Cathedral of Commerce" — the 
 chosen habitation of that spirit in man which, through means of 
 change and liarter, binds alien people into unity and peace, and 
 reduces the hazards of war and bloodshed. Such is its testimony 
 due to Frank W. Woolworth, whose magnitude of mind originated 
 the scheme, and to Cass Gilbert, whose genius executed it to the 
 last detail. To these men, America pays a lasting tribute, and their 
 accomplishment will remain at the heart of the world of trade, a 
 lofty example of the best possibilities in human nature, even when 
 engaged in mercantile pursuits. 
 
I 
 I 
 
 THE CATHEDRAL OF 
 COMMERCE 
 
 N the night of April 
 24, 1913, President 
 Wilson pressed a tiny 
 button in the White 
 House and 80,000 brilliant lights 
 instantly flashed throughout the 
 Woolworth Building. The event 
 marked the completion, the dedi- 
 cation and the formal opening of 
 that regal edifice, the tallest and 
 most beautiful building in all the 
 world erected to commerce, so 
 judged by the officials of the 
 Panama-Pacific Exposition when 
 they placed their seal of approval 
 upon it and awarded it a gold 
 medal. Itwasa memorable night. 
 A profusion of light filled the 
 twenty-seventh floor, which had 
 been arranged for a superb ban- 
 quet. And assembled there was 
 a great host of statesmen, cap- 
 tains of industry, merchants, 
 journalists, scholars, poets — all 
 representative Americans, proud 
 to break bread with, and honor 
 the man who had realized his 
 dream, and the gallant aides who 
 tirelessly had labored with him 
 to accomplish the stupendous 
 task, the upbuilding of a monu- 
 ment to small things. 
 
 Yes, as a commercial institu- 
 tion the Woolworth Building is 
 preeminent. Within its walls are 
 
 housed great banking institu- 
 tions, the executive and clerical 
 staffs of giant industries, the New 
 York representatives of Ameri- 
 ca's big business enterprises and 
 a great many leaders in the pro- 
 fessions. Its tenants, with their 
 employees, number upwards of 
 14,000 people — the population of 
 a city — and only tenants of the 
 highest standard are accepted. 
 The Building could have been 
 filled twice over had not Mr. 
 Woolworth been so strict about 
 the responsibility and personal 
 integrity of every lessee. Alto- 
 gether, these tenants rank among 
 our country's most prosperous, 
 progressive and most reputable 
 business and professional men. 
 
 Doctor Cadman, the noted di- 
 vine, has called this Building 
 "The Cathedral of Commerce." 
 This term fittingly describes it. 
 It stands in magnificent splen- 
 dor, a masterpieceof art and archi- 
 tecture, a Glorious Whole, quite 
 beyond the control of human im- 
 agination. The true Gothic lines 
 and tracery of the exterior are 
 extremely impressive, and the 
 proportions have been executed 
 with such studious care and fidel- 
 ity to detail that its enormous 
 height is not realized from the 
 
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 LOWER MANHATTAN BY NIGHT 
 
 FROM THE OBSERVATION GALLERY OF THE WOOLWORTH BUILDING 
 
 street; yet it is by far the tallest 
 building in the world, rising 792 
 feet above the sidewalk, its sum- 
 mit piercing the heavens. The 
 recessive Towner, gradually dimin- 
 ishing from base to pinnacle and 
 appearing always in new lights 
 and colors, forms a fascinating 
 picture from ever^^' viewpoint, as 
 it stands silhouetted against the 
 sky. 
 
 Its location, too, is of supreme 
 importance. It is in the very heart 
 of things — the civic center of the 
 world's great metropolis, in the 
 midst of all transportation lines. 
 It faces upon three streets and 
 has nine entrances, including two 
 direct communications with the 
 subway transportation system. 
 
 It is within a stone's throw of 
 City Hall, the Municipal Build- 
 ing, Brooklyn Bridge, the Post 
 Office and all Courts, also close 
 by the great financial and bank- 
 ing center. No building could 
 command a better location or 
 one more advantageous to its 
 tenants. 
 
 From the Observation Gallery, 
 fifty-eight stories above the 
 street, the view is marvelous, and 
 the thrilling sensation which 
 comes over the sightseer is never 
 to be forgotten. It is indeed the 
 most remarkable if not the most 
 wondrous view in all the world. 
 The scenic and color effects, with 
 the sun shining on the multi-col- 
 ored buildings around it, but far 
 
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 THREE TOWERS OF LOWER MAXHATTAX AT NIGHT 
 
 below, and on the water and land 
 for twenty-five miles in every 
 direction, make a landscape im- 
 possible of adequate description. 
 The vast area spread out before 
 the visitor's eye is inhabited by 
 more than 9,500,000 souls. To 
 the north lies the great City, with 
 the Hudson River and the lordly 
 Highlands beyond. To the east, 
 Long Island and the mighty 
 Atlantic Ocean, with its ships 
 passing to and fro far distant on 
 the horizon where sky and water 
 seem to meet. To the south, 
 the great Harbor of New York, 
 the Narrows through which pass 
 all ships entering and leaving this 
 Port, Governor's Island, the 
 Statue of Liberty, and Staten 
 
 Island in the distance. To the 
 west again is seen the Hudson 
 River and the great expanse of 
 meadow-land and mountainous 
 country embracing Eastern 
 New Jersey. Looking downward, 
 the multitudes of people scurry- 
 ing about the busy streets in 
 close proximity to theWoolworth 
 Building resemble an aggrega- 
 tion of pygmies — a crowd seen 
 through the large end of a tele- 
 scope. The view is bewildering. 
 Ever>' year upwards of 300,000 
 visitors from all parts of the world 
 come here and the Guests' Regis- 
 ter shows that these good people 
 represent more than sixty differ- 
 ent countries and thousands of 
 cities. 
 
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 The wonders of the Wool worth 
 Building have not been confined 
 to its exterior, for within will be 
 found a wealth of things 
 intensely interesting. 
 First among these 
 should be mentioned 
 the grand arcade, its 
 tall, perfect lines rising 
 and sweeping into 
 graceful curves and 
 arches. The marble, 
 with its warm, golden, 
 evenly matched colors 
 of varied hues forming 
 the arcade walls, was 
 quarried on the Isle of 
 Skyros off the coast of 
 Greece, from the choicest mar- 
 ble obtainable there. It is richly 
 carved in pure Gothic design, 
 blending with the magnificently 
 decorated dome-ceiling, which is 
 a masterpiece of glass mosaic. 
 Its rare beauty is accentuated by 
 the soft glow of artificial light 
 concealed behind the lacelike 
 marble cornice at the springing of 
 the arches. It suggests a flood of 
 dazzling jewels glittering in the 
 sunlight — emeralds, rubies, sap- 
 phires, diamonds — a riot of har- 
 monious colors, all spread out in 
 golden settings, and arranged in 
 exquisite designs. The whole ef- 
 fect is one of grandeur with which 
 the arcade of no other building in 
 the world may be compared. It is, 
 indeed, an appropriate entrance 
 to this regal structure, "The Ca- 
 thedral of Commerce." 
 
 In the sub-basement is located 
 the power plant which generates 
 
 electricity to operate the ele- 
 vators and furnish light and ven- 
 tilation for the entire Building. 
 
 This plant is complete 
 in its make-up. Its four 
 mighty engines and dy- 
 namos, operating day 
 and night — never idle 
 — are wondrous pieces 
 of machinery', and con- 
 sidered the most effi- 
 cient known to engi- 
 neering science. The 
 plant has a total capac- 
 ity of 1,500 kilowatts, 
 and consists of two 500 
 kilowatt units, one 300 
 kilowatt unit, and one 
 200 kilowatt unit. These units 
 are of varying size, so as to afford 
 maximum operating efficiency, 
 according to the varying elec- 
 trical load at different hours of 
 the day. The engines are of tan- 
 dem-compound low-speed Cor- 
 liss type moving at one hundred 
 revolutions per minute, and are 
 capable of generating sufficient 
 power to operate an electric 
 street railway or supply electric 
 light for a city of 50,000 inhabit- 
 ants. The Engine Room itself is 
 especially attractive with walls 
 and floor of white tile and ceiling 
 of white enamel, always spotless 
 clean. Here, too, will be found 
 an elaborate ventilating plant, 
 designed to furnish a complete 
 change of air in the three stories 
 underground and the first four 
 above four times in every hour. 
 The air is drawn down from out- 
 side the Building above the sixth 
 floor, passed through fine sieves 
 
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 and then through a curtain of 
 constantly running filtered water, 
 where it is cleansed and distrib- 
 uted to tenants free of impurity. 
 In summer months, this air is 
 cooled by refrigeration, and in 
 winter it is warmed by passing 
 through heated pipes. A water 
 filtration plant and refrigerating 
 plant also form part of the vast 
 mechanical equipment required 
 for the exacting needs of the 
 Building's tenants. 
 
 The Boiler Room houses six gi- 
 ant boilers having a total capacity 
 of 2 ,500 horse-power. These boil- 
 ers are operated at high pressure 
 and except during a few weeks of 
 unusually cold weather in mid- 
 
 winter the entire building is 
 heated by exhaust steam from 
 the engines and pumps. Some 
 idea may be formed of the coal 
 consumed by these boilers from 
 the fact that the Building's 
 coal bunkers contain over 2,000 
 tons of coal, which is replaced as 
 used by cargo shipments direct 
 from the anthracite fields of 
 Pennsylvania. An immense 
 Swimming Pool and Turkish 
 Bath, open day and night, are 
 also located in the sub-basement, 
 where will be found every modern 
 device making for comfort, safety 
 and sanitation. 
 
 The fortress-like vaults of the 
 Irving Safe Deposit Company 
 
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 VIEW FROM THE SOUTHWEST 
 
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 GENERATORS AND MAIN 
 SWITCHBOARD IN 
 THE ENGINE ROOM 
 
 are a feature of the basement, 
 the first business floor. Upwards 
 of five thousand boxes, many of 
 them extra size, provide safe- 
 keeping for the important docu- 
 ments, securities and valuables of 
 almostasmanybusinessand indi- 
 vidual customers. Another inter- 
 esting place in the basement is the 
 Restaurant — a show-place noted 
 for its good food and fine service. 
 There is also a finely appointed 
 Barber Shop in the basement. 
 
 The Irving National Bank, 
 whose resources of more than 
 $300,000,000 give it rank among 
 the great institutions of New 
 York, occupies the banking floor, 
 as well as the third, fourth and 
 fifth office floors of the building. 
 The grand staircase facing the 
 Broadway entrance leads directly 
 to the Irving's main offices, where 
 the problem of maintaining 
 friendly personal relations with 
 many thousands of depositors has 
 
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 been solved in a most interesting 
 way. Instead of the usual sep- 
 arate groups of paying and re- 
 ceiving windows, every teller both 
 pays and receives — a system 
 which both economizes the time 
 of customers and makes for their 
 better acquaintance with tellers. 
 All Irving departments, indeed, 
 are designed and arranged with 
 the idea of facilitating contact 
 between customers and officers 
 and making the latter as easy of 
 access as in any village or neigh- 
 borhood bank. 
 
 Perhaps the most difficult 
 problem in a structure as tall as 
 the Woolworth Building is the 
 elevator service, and the Build- 
 ing's success depends very largely 
 upon the adequacy, safety and 
 regularity of this service. The 
 architectural design of the Build- 
 ing, together with the peculiari- 
 ties of its structural steelwork, to 
 a great extent, govern the num- 
 ber, arrangement and grouping 
 
 of the elevators. This vital fea- 
 ture has been carefully worked 
 out, with the result that twenty- 
 nine high-speed electric traction 
 elevators provide excellent serv- 
 ice throughout twenty-four hours 
 of each day, every day in the year, 
 Sundays and holidays included. 
 These elevators travel on a head- 
 way of twenty-five to thirty-five 
 seconds during business hours, 
 which means that a car is avail- 
 able to carry passengers up or 
 down from any floor about every 
 half-minute, and this service is 
 faithfully maintained. In order 
 to get tenants, their employees 
 and clients to and from the offices 
 with the least possible delay, 
 many of the elevators are oper- 
 ated at a speed greater than that 
 maintained in any other build- 
 ing, yet they travel so smoothly 
 and noiselessly that their move- 
 ments are scarcely observed. 
 The two elevators, which oper- 
 ate from the ground to the fifty- 
 fourth floor, rise 700 feet in one 
 
 ONE OF THE WORKSHOPS 
 
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 B 
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 The loftiest 
 a n d most 
 b e a u t if u I 
 building in 
 all the world 
 dedicated to 
 commerce — ■ 
 seen through 
 the great 
 arch of the 
 Mu7ticipal 
 Building in 
 the soft glow 
 of early 
 morning 
 sunlight. 
 
At dusk, its 
 gigantic 
 Tower, 
 bathed in 
 electric light 
 of many gor- 
 geotis hues, 
 rises high 
 into the 
 heavens like 
 a shaft of 
 fire herald- 
 ing the ap- 
 proach of 
 night. 
 
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 LOOKING NORTH FROM THE OBSERVATION GALLERY 
 
 minute, and these are the high- 
 est-rise and fastest-traveling ele- 
 vators in the world. Although 
 elevator service is provided in 
 the Eiffel Tower, Paris, to a 
 height of nearly i,ooo feet, three 
 lifts must be used to reach the 
 top, the highest rise of a single 
 lift being about 450 feet. 
 
 On account of the complex ele- 
 vator problem and the high 
 speed at which service is main- 
 tained, together with the fact 
 that nearly 35,000 people daily 
 travel upon these elevators (more 
 than 11,000,000 a year), partic- 
 ular attention is given to the mat- 
 ter of safety devices. The more 
 important of these are the under- 
 car safety operated by an over- 
 
 head governor; oil buffers placed 
 under each car; retarding and 
 latching device at the top of each 
 shaftway; limit switches at the 
 top and bottom of travel ; speed 
 governor and potential switches 
 operated by governor; switch 
 attached to safety plank on the 
 under-car safety; emergency 
 wheel and safety switch inside 
 the car itself. Besides these, the 
 gearless traction elevator has the 
 great inherent safety feature be- 
 cause, if either the car or counter- 
 weight over-travels, the tractive 
 force is lost, owing to the weight 
 of the car or counterweight being 
 removed from the hoisting cables. 
 There are also many electrical 
 safety devices which form a part 
 of the controlling equipment 
 
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 LOOKING SOUTH FROM THE OBSERVATION GALLERY 
 
 safeguarding the operation of 
 these elevators. 
 
 Two additional features of 
 great importance among the 
 safety devices are the emergency 
 exit doors and the interlocking 
 device on the shaftvvay doors. 
 The emergency exit doors are so 
 constructed that, in the event of 
 an elevator being accidentally 
 held between floors, passengers 
 may be transferred to an adjoin- 
 ing elevator and carried safely to 
 their destination without delay 
 or confusion. The interlocking 
 device on the shaft way doors 
 effectively overcomes one of the 
 common causes of elevator acci- 
 dents, namely, those which occur 
 as passengers enter or alight 
 
 from elevators. These accidents 
 may usually be charged to the 
 carelessness of the operator in 
 opening the shaftway door be- 
 fore the elevator reaches a full 
 stop or starting the elevator be- 
 fore the door is fully closed. In 
 this Building, elevators cannot 
 be so operated because the inter- 
 locking device absolutely pre- 
 vents an elevator from moving 
 until the shaftway doors are fully 
 closed. 
 
 Besides the regular safety de- 
 vices enumerated above, Mr. 
 Woolworth ordered air cushions 
 for all elevators. These consist 
 of a heavy steel structure enclos- 
 ing each elevator shaft separately 
 with reinforced concrete placed 
 
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 LOOKING WEST FROM THE OBSERVATION GALLERY 
 
 between I beams. In addition, 
 the interior of the shafts is lined 
 with heavy steel plates, and as a 
 car enters the air-cushion zone 
 and approaches the bottom of 
 travel the air pressure beneath 
 increases. Therefore, if all 
 safet}^ devices failed to operate 
 and the car dropped, the air 
 would be so rapidly compressed 
 that it would not have time to 
 escape through the automatic 
 valves or through the clearance 
 space around the elevator ; hence, 
 the speed of the latter would be 
 retarded and it would be brought 
 gradually to rest at the base of 
 its shaft without injury or 
 shock to passengers within. To 
 determine the utility of the air 
 cushions, a test was made by 
 loading an elevator with 7,000 
 pounds of material and dropping 
 
 it from the forty-fifth floor with 
 all safety devices and cables re- 
 moved. When this elevator 
 reached bottom, its load was un- 
 harmed; the vibration being so 
 slight that even a glass of water, 
 which it carried, remained intact. 
 
 Many daily inspections are 
 made by the Building's main- 
 tenance force, not only of this ap- 
 paratus but of everything else af- 
 fecting the safety, comfort and 
 welfare of tenants and the gen- 
 eral public. To show the extreme 
 caution of these inspectors, a re- 
 markable test was made in the 
 plant of John A. Roebling's Sons 
 Co. with a set of six hoisting 
 cablescondemned and taken from 
 an elevator after three years of 
 active service. The one most 
 worn of these cables was placed 
 
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 tions to the operators when nec- 
 essary, regardless of whether the 
 elevators are in motion or at rest, 
 so as to correct immediately any 
 irregularities in the service. 
 
 Although the Building is fire- 
 proof throughout, in so far as 
 engineering masters have been 
 able to make it, and the possi- 
 bility of fire occurring within its 
 walls is extremely remote, never- 
 theless, every mechanical device 
 has been provided to safeguard 
 the lives and property of tenants 
 should the "impossible" occur. 
 A fire could not spread beyond 
 the office in which it broke out 
 because the walls are of stone or 
 steel, the doors, trim, etc., also 
 of steel, and the glass of heavy 
 plate, wired. In fact, no inflam- 
 mable material of any descrip- 
 tion was used in the construction 
 of this Building. Every stairway 
 is an enclosed fire - tower, and 
 every elevator shaft is free from 
 outside influences such as smoke, 
 fire, heat and gases. 
 
 A gigantic fire-pump forms 
 part of the Building's thoroughly 
 complete fire-fightingequipment. 
 This pump, located in the sub- 
 basement, is capable of deliver- 
 ing 500 gallons of water per 
 minute at the fifty-eighth story 
 against a head pressure of 820 
 feet, and, on account of the pro- 
 tection which it affords neighbor- 
 ing property, owners have, in 
 many cases, been able to secure 
 reductions in their fire insurance 
 premiums. 
 
 In most buildings the inside 
 or court offices are usually quite 
 dark and undesirable on account 
 of the narrowness of the open- 
 ings and the height and dingy 
 character of their walls. Not so 
 in the Woolworth Building. It 
 has a great, wide court — nearly 
 the width of an average city 
 street, and, as the walls are of 
 glazed white tile, much natural 
 light is reflected into the court 
 offices, making them practically 
 as choice as those facing upon 
 the streets. All offices in the 
 Building, without exception, are 
 especially wide, light, and well 
 ventilated, and their appoint- 
 ments are of the very best. 
 
 For the convenience of tenants, 
 a completely equipped Hospital 
 Room has been established for 
 female stenographers, clerks, and 
 others, where they may receive 
 first-aid treatment at the hands 
 of a competent nurse or rest 
 quietly from the mental or phys- 
 ical strain attendant upon the 
 day's work. Quick relief is thus 
 afforded and sometimes serious 
 illness prevented. Should any 
 case be so serious as to require the 
 attendance of a physician, one 
 may be had within a few minutes. 
 This room is maintained as part 
 of the Building's general service 
 for which no charge is made. 
 
 The public corridors through- 
 out are spacious and well lighted 
 and ventilated. Their floors are 
 of polished marble terrazo and 
 they have wainscot of selected 
 
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 BOILER ROOM 
 
 Italian marble carried half-way 
 up to the ceiling. Directories on 
 every floor below the Tower en- 
 able one to locate his destination 
 quickly upon alighting from the 
 elevators. The toilet facilities are 
 unique as regards the number 
 of rooms assigned for that pur- 
 pose and the elegance of their 
 appointments. A toilet room for 
 ladies and one for gentlemen will 
 be found conveniently located 
 on practically every floor of the 
 Building. The walls of these 
 rooms are lined with white carrara 
 glass, the costliest, most sanitar>% 
 and most attractive wall decora- 
 tion known for this purpose. The 
 ceilings are of w^hite enamel, and 
 the floors of white flint tile. The 
 fixtures, too, are the last word in 
 modern design and construction. 
 
 and, as a whole, these rooms are 
 all that the word "sanitary" 
 implies. 
 
 ]\Iore than 150,000 pieces of 
 mail are delivered to tenants of 
 the Woolworth Building every 
 business day, and a dozen letter- 
 carriers are required for this serv- 
 ice. The tenants' outgoing mail 
 matter is fully as voluminous 
 and requires an additional force 
 of handlers to convey it to the 
 General Post Office. Four huge 
 letterboxes are placed in the 
 main corridor, from which twenty- 
 seven collections are made every 
 twenty-four hours on week days. 
 For the convenience of tenants, 
 four mail chutes, connected with 
 the mail boxes mentioned, serve 
 every floor of the Building. 
 
THE EMPIRE ROOM — EXECUTIVE OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT OF 
 F. W. WOOLWORTH COMPANY 
 
 Twenty-eight hundred tele- 
 phones are in service throughout 
 the BuikHng, a greater number 
 than is used in a city of 45,000 
 inhabitants. The average daily 
 traffic is 38,000 calls, totaling 
 11,400,000 messages per year. 
 
 Frequently visitors to the Ob- 
 servation Gallery and others ask 
 interesting questions with regard 
 to the means which have been 
 devised to make a building of 
 this height entirely safe in the 
 face of the elements. As a mat- 
 ter of general information it may 
 be said that, regardless of its su- 
 preme height, the structure is 
 (juite as safe as the Rock of Gi- 
 braltar, and the following facts 
 
 will probably be of interest to 
 those who read them : The foun- 
 dations for all columns are car- 
 ried down to solid bed rock by 
 means of concrete piers sunk by 
 the pneumatic caisson process, 
 which consists of sinking metal 
 tubes of the size required for the 
 finished piers. Some of these are 
 19 feet in diameter. In sinking 
 these metal tubes water was en- 
 countered and the pneumatic 
 process had to be resorted to, 
 consisting of closing up the upper 
 ends of the tubes by a system of 
 air locks. The interiors were then 
 filled with air under pressure, 
 equivalent to the water pressure 
 outside, and this prevented the 
 water from entering at the bot- 
 
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 THE FLEMISH ROOM — ON THE FORTIETH FLOOR SHOWING FLEMISH RENAISSANCE 
 TAPESTRY (WOVEN ABOUT 1650) AND ITALIAN RENAISSANCE 
 MANTELPIECE CARVED IN STONE 
 
 torn. The workmen thereby ob- 
 tained access to the exterior so as 
 to excavate and remove the soil. 
 Upon reaching the solid rock the 
 tube was gradually filled with 
 concrete, the top removed and 
 the filling completed, thus leaving 
 solid concrete piers for the steel 
 columns of the Building to rest 
 upon. 
 
 The caissons under this Build- 
 ing average no feet in depth be- 
 low the sidewalk, and there are 
 69 of thcsewith a combined length 
 of approximately 5,000 feet, all 
 carried down to bed rock. The 
 total load on the rock at the cais- 
 son base was estimated to be 
 24 tons per square foot. There 
 
 is no possibility of the Building 
 rocking in the slightest degree, 
 because the dead load on any of 
 the columns is greater than the 
 maximum uplift due to wind 
 pressure on the Building. The 
 Building's weight above the cais- 
 sons is estimated to be 223,000 
 tons, including allowance for 
 wind pressure. 
 
 The wind pressure was care- 
 fully studied, and it may be 
 safely stated that a hurricane, 
 blowing at 200 miles per hour, 
 would not damage the frame- 
 work of this Building in any way. 
 Winds of such velocity are, of 
 course, unknown. At the very 
 top, where scientific observations 
 
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 have been made, no vibration 
 whatever was detected. The 
 Tower is braced to take care of 
 wund strains by a system of portal 
 braces like those used at the ends 
 of bridges. These occur in all 
 stories, so that wind blowing at 
 any floor level is transmitted 
 through the braces below suc- 
 cessively until 
 it reaches the 
 foundation. 
 This form of 
 bracing is un- 
 usual in build- 
 ing construc- 
 tion, but it 
 was consid- 
 ered by far the 
 best solution 
 of the difficult 
 engineering 
 pro b 1 e m i n 
 hand. 
 
 The copper 
 roofs on the 
 
 Tower and on the main building 
 are connected by means of cop- 
 per cables with the Building's 
 structural steelwork. This 
 grounds the structure and pro- 
 duces a result similar to the or- 
 dinary lightning conductor. The 
 Building is, therefore, safe even 
 during severe lightning storms. 
 
 No description of the Wool- 
 worth Building is complete with- 
 out a word concerning that vi- 
 tally important feature called 
 SERVICE, a feature, perhaps, 
 more important than all others 
 to the tenants. Every possible 
 
 need of the tenants is antici- 
 pated and cared for promptly, 
 courteously and efficiently. The 
 smooth-running organization, 
 planned as it has been along de- 
 partmental lines, as in a great 
 railway system, has for example, 
 its Fire, Police, Cleaning, Repair 
 and Maintenance Departments, 
 on duty night 
 and day, al- 
 ways, each 
 working with 
 rigid alertness 
 and fidelity. 
 The Building 
 contains near- 
 ly 30 acres of 
 floor space, 
 yet this vast 
 area is cleaned 
 — yes, and 
 thoroughly — 
 every single 
 day, but not 
 during busi- 
 ness hours 
 when such work would disturb 
 the tenants. The 5,000 or more 
 windows throughout the Build- 
 ing are cleaned once a week and 
 more often when storms make it 
 necessary. The work of the Night 
 Watchmen, who make hourly 
 patrols of the Building, and of 
 the Police and Detective Forces, 
 is especially important to ten- 
 ants, because they are sure of 
 the absolute security of their 
 property during closed hours and 
 because it prevents interruption 
 and annoyance during business 
 hours, of a kind commonly ex- 
 perienced in some office buildings. 
 
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 Substantially 
 all the repair 
 work — and this 
 is a vast item — 
 is executed by 
 the Building's 
 mechanical 
 forces, which in- 
 clude, among 
 others, the Elec- 
 trical, Plumb- 
 ing, Heating and 
 Elevator Main- 
 tenance Depart- 
 ments, all oper- 
 ating coordi- 
 nately and under 
 well-trained 
 heads. Even 
 the tools re- 
 quired to per- 
 form special 
 classes of work 
 are made by the 
 house mechan- 
 ics, and the 
 Building may be 
 said to be self- 
 contained. Ab- 
 solute coopera- 
 tion exists 
 among all de- 
 partments, and, 
 to a man, the 300 
 odd employees 
 know how to 
 serve. They go 
 about their work 
 determined to 
 satisfy and 
 please every ten- 
 ant from the 
 largest to the 
 smallest uni- 
 
 Broadway Park Place Co. 
 
 NEW YORK, N Y 
 f W wool WORTH. Pr»«.drm 
 
 AWARDED FOR BEING 
 
 Highest and finest 
 I Office Building in tlieWorid 
 
 WK 
 
 AWAR D 
 RIBBON 
 
 PANAMA PACIFIC 
 
 INTERNATIONAL 
 EXPOSITION 
 SAN FRANCI 
 
 1915 
 
 HONO 
 
 DEPitRTMEHTOF 
 
 LIBERAL ARTS 
 
 formly, know- 
 ing, as they do, 
 that upon that 
 altogether the 
 success of the 
 great institution 
 depends 
 
 The Wool- 
 worth Building 
 has been called 
 "The Cathedral 
 of Commerce" 
 — a monument 
 to small things, 
 yet it is even 
 more — it is the 
 colossal and en- 
 during gift to 
 civilization of a 
 true-born, patri- 
 otic American, 
 Frank W. Wool- 
 worth, and it 
 stands unique in 
 the history of 
 great buildings 
 throughout the 
 world in that it 
 is without a 
 mortgage or 
 dollar of indebt- 
 e d n e s s. Mr. 
 Woolworth paid 
 for this gigantic 
 structure from 
 start to finish 
 from his own re- 
 sources, accu- 
 mulated through 
 his business sa- 
 gacity in estab- 
 lishing an en- 
 tirely new line of 
 
EMERGENCY ROOM FOR TENANTS AND VISITORS 
 
 merchandising through retail 
 stores handling only five and ten 
 cent goods. This enterprise has 
 developed into the largest retail 
 business in existence today. 
 
 Thus it may be said that the 
 name Frank W. Woolworth has 
 been indelibly inscribed through- 
 out the length and breadth of 
 our land and abroad, and the 
 Woolworth Building, symboliz- 
 ing, as it truly does, the crown- 
 ing achievement of a career of 
 usefulness toward mankind, will 
 long herald the march of pro- 
 gress down through the corridors 
 of time. 
 
FRANK W. WOOLWORTH 
 
 1852 »' 1919 
 
 THE visitors to the Observation Gallery 
 of the Woolworth Building, and others, 
 who read the story of "The Cathedral of Com- 
 merce," may be interested in a brief resume of 
 the life of the man by whom this Gothic 
 monument was built. 
 
 Frank W. Woolworth was descended from 
 Richard Woolworth, who came from England 
 about 1650 and 
 settled in Massa- 
 chusetts. He was 
 born April i 3, 
 1852, at Rodman, 
 Jefferson County, 
 N.Y., his parents 
 being John H. and 
 Fannie (McBrier) 
 Woolworth. When 
 h e wa s a bo u t se ve n 
 years of age the 
 family moved to a 
 farm at Great 
 Bend, N.Y. Here 
 the boy worked on 
 the farm and at- 
 tended a district 
 school. Later he 
 attended a Water- 
 town Commercial 
 College, from 
 which he was grad- 
 uated in 1872. 
 
 Starting as a 
 clerk in 1873 in 
 the department 
 store of Augsbury 
 
 & Moore at Watertown, N.Y., at $3.50 per 
 week, he remained with that firm (which be- 
 came Moore & Smith) until the early part of 
 the year 1879, when he left to go in business 
 for himself. 
 
 Mr. Woolworth was married in 1876 to 
 Miss Jennie Creighton, of Watertown, N.Y., 
 and had three daughters. 
 
 The first store (which was strictly a 5-cent 
 store) was opened by Mr. Woolworth Feb- 
 ruary 22, 1879, at Utica, N.Y. This store was 
 not a success. The second store, established 
 at Lancaster, Pa., was a successful venture. 
 The third store, opened at Harrisburg, Pa., 
 in June, 1879, was not successful, while the 
 fourth, started at Scranton, Pa., was a success. 
 
 Despite the failure of later ventures at 
 Philadelphia, Pa., Newark, N.J., and Elmira, 
 
 N.Y., he persisted in the establishment of a 
 chain of 5- and lo-cent stores. 
 
 In 1886, Mr. Woolworth opened a small 
 office in New York City, at 104 Chambers 
 Street, and made this his headquarters. 
 
 In 1905, he ovsned and operated about 300 
 stores when he incorporated his business for 
 S 10,000,000, under the name of F. W. Wool- 
 worth & Com- 
 pany. This com- 
 pany was reor- 
 ganized in 19 1 2 as 
 the F. W. Wool- 
 worth Company, 
 with a capital of 
 $65,000,000, and 
 absorbed the busi- 
 ness of S. H. Knox 
 &Co.,F.M.Kirby 
 & Co., E.P.Charl- 
 ton & Co., C. S. 
 Woolworth and 
 W.H.Moore, with 
 a total of 600 
 stores. 
 
 Atthedateofthe 
 death of the late 
 Frank W. W'ool- 
 worth, the Com- 
 pany owned and 
 operated over one 
 thousand stores 
 and doing a total 
 annual business of 
 approximately 
 $120,000,000. 
 Mr. Woolworth died April 8, 1919, at 
 his country home at Glen Cove, L.I. His 
 New York City residence was at 990 Fifth 
 Avenue. 
 
 In 1914, in memory of his father and mother, 
 he built and endowed the Woolworth Memo- 
 rial Methodist Episcopal Church at Great 
 Bend, N.Y. His contributions to charitable 
 causes were large. 
 
 Up to the time of his death, Mr. Woolworth 
 was a member of the board of directors of 
 many banks and commercial corporations. 
 He was a member of numerous associations 
 and clubs, including among others, the New 
 York Chamber of Commerce, the Merchants' 
 Association of New York, the Union League 
 Club, the Lotos Club, the Hardware Club, and 
 the Automobile Club of America. 
 
Avarr