You probably don't associate financial fortune with sewing machines, do you?

*An early ad for Singer Sewing Machines.*

*Under construction. - Photo: NYPL Digital Archives*

The Singer Building was designed by architect Ernest Flagg in the Beaux-Arts style and was 41 stories. Construction began in 1902 and it was completed in 1908 at a cost of approximately $8 million. Edward Clark, a Singer company founder, was also a real estate developer who commissioned both the Dakota apartment building and Singer's headquarters.

Singer occupied the floors above the 31st story while leasing the tower's lower sections to tenants. At $3 per square foot, they projected $250,000 in annual rental income.

New innovations like steel skeletons and passenger elevators made these new structures possible. Unfortunately, in its first few months the elevators were involved in two deaths.

*Downtown Manhattan, quite different from today. - Photo: NYPL Digital Archives*

***It briefly held the title of tallest building in the world in 1908 for just one year!***

The Singer Building quickly became an iconic symbol of New York City with its floodlit 670 foot tower. An observation deck on the 42nd floor offered New Yorkers a new view of their city unlike anything they had ever experienced.

For decades, it stood as one of New York’s premier tourist attractions and one of the city’s most elegant structures. However in 1961 Singer announced that it had leased six floors at Rockefeller Center and placed the Singer Building on the market.

U.S. Steel purchased it with plans to demolish the structure and build it’s new headquarters. The 54-story U.S. Steel Building, later renamed One Liberty Plaza was completed in 1973.

Once considered one of the most iconic buildings of New York City, its demolition, along with that of Pennsylvania Station (thankfully) started the landmarks preservation movement.

The Singer Building

The Roxy