The Woolworth Building - tallest in the world

Frank Woolworth was determined to leave his mark for posterity - and while others chose to endow museums or galleries, he set his sights on something much more spectacular - the world's tallest building.

In 1910 he secretly started to buy up properties on Broadway and in Barclay Street, Manhattan, until he had acquired the entire block. He engaged a world-famous architect, Cass Gilbert, and sent him to London to see the British Houses of Parliament, which the Five-and-Ten magnate considered the world's finest building.

Gilbert drew up plans for an elegant structure, which would stand 750 feet above the ground. After discussion with Woolworth it was agreed the original plan for sixty stories was reduced to fifty-five to allow taller ceilings, particularly on the ground and top floors of the main building below the spire. The height was raised to 795 feet above the sidewalk, The two men agreed that the edifice would be faced in the finest marble and appointed to the highest specification.

As Gilbert finalised his plans, Woolworth assembled one of the most spectacular marketing campaigns ever seen. He was determined to turn a profit on the project.

As work proceeded to lay the foundations, Frank Woolworth turned his mind to marketing the building. He developed a series of tactics which he hoped would attract big-name tenants to take long leases on parts of the building. A series of publicity stunts was arranged.

• hearing of several disasters in other tall buildings, Woolworth instinctively understood the worries of potential tenants, and arranged to have the world's safest elevators built. When complete he arranged a demonstration in which a raw egg was placed in the elevator 700 feet up and the cables cut. It was unbroken when the lift reached the bottom, proving the pneumatic brake design
   
• the U.S. President Woodrow Wilson was persuaded to open the building in an elaborate ceremony that involved flicking a switch in the White House to illuminate the entire building
   
• the Thomas Edison company were "allowed" to light the building (at their own expense) and placed advertisements declaring that they had been chosen to illuminate the world's tallest building. The subterranean floors of the building incorporated two power plants, each large enough to light an average town.
   
• roofing contractors, marble makers and a host of other service providers were persuaded to give ultra-low prices in exchange for the right to join the bandwagon of the Woolworth publicity machine

The marketing campaign for the building drew on Frank's experience in establishing his chain of Five-and-Ten Cent stores. By 1911 the dimestores had become a phenomenon. The sheer scale of their turnover meant that when his fellow Directors refused to support the construction project, the Founder was able to fund the entire $13.5m cost of the work personally from the dividends on his shares.

Woolworth had achieved success in Main Street by tracking products back to their source and securing big discounts by paying cash up-front for the goods. He planned to use the same technique to keep construction costs down and to ensure that all raw materials were of the highest specification. For example he bought the girders straight from the foundry and the marble from the quarry. He paid for the building a floor at a time, and insisted on supervising every detail of the project personally. At times his interference quite literally drove the builders up the wall ! On one occasion he asked why the site employed a boy to answer the phone. He thought that this was extravagant. His foreman explained that it took a long time to shin down 750 feet of girders - especially if the call turned out to be a wrong number!

Traditionally the Woolworth formula involved paring products down to their bare essentials, eliminating anything decorative or non-functional in order to mass produce goods at the lowest possible price. It had proved a hit. The Woolworth Building was the exception. The Architect was given free reign to add imaginative finishing touches. Gilbert's drawings included lots of ornate detail. He supervised as these were brought to life.The gargoyles include amusing caricatures of both Gilbert and his patron. If visitors look closely as they enter the lobby, they are greeted by a miserly Frank counting his pennies and a proud architect holding up a scale model of his tower. It is said these were Woolworth's favourite features.

The decision to dispense with his traditional economy was a wise one. Woolworth's management company, the Broadway Park Place Co., was able to tell prospective tenants that no expense had been spared to make the building not only the tallest, but also among the most opulent and elegant buildings in the world. As a result they were able to attract big name corporations to rent large swathes of the landmark building. The highly-respected Columbia Recording Company were among the first to take space. Many of their early gramophone records feature the landmark address. The firm claimed that their stone walled ground floor studios had some of the finest acoustics anywhere.

As construction drew to a close, Frank Woolworth built a range of souvenirs to sell in his stores for 5¢ and 10¢, and in the building's own gift shop next to the viewing platform.

A British supplier struck a celebration plate, which was co-ordinated with their 'Fibre' pattern as a centrepiece. A German vendor produced a dainty full-colour ring tray. The selection also included brass egg cups, picture frames and crumb trays, as well as guide books, cards and stereoscopes.

A particular favourite was a Woolworth Building money box which, it was said, was ideal for collecting nickels and dimes.

The most popular and enduring souvenir turned out to be the simplest and cheapest to make. The British Needle Company of Redditch first proposed to repackage their assortment of sewing and darning needles onto a card depicting the Woolworth Building in 1913. Millions were made and shipped across the Atlantic over the next eighteen months. The line proved such a good seller that during the Great War, when U-boats prevented European supplies from reaching America, Frank Woolworth got the supplier's permission to transfer production to a factory in the USA. The original factory continued to supply the British Threepenny and Sixpenny Woolworth chain. Production for North America later switched to Germany and for a spell in the early 1950s the needle packs were made in occupied Japan.

Tenants started to move into the Building in the Autumn of 1912, only 18 months after work started to sink the foundations. Labourers were still fitting out the spire as the lower offices were occupied.

When the hoardings were removed from the sidewalk, passers-by were able to inspect the fine detail of Cass Gilbert's design at close quarters. The pedestrains walking along Barclay Place help to show the sheer scale and grandeur of the neo-Gothic architecture.

The red line on the long view of the building (right) highlights the entrance, as pictured on the left.

Woolworth and Gilbert received a lot of praise for the design and construction. They lapped up the plaudits. New Yorkers gave the building many nicknames - the Skyline Queen, the Cathedral of Commerce, and Frank's favourite the Tower of Nickels and Dimes.

The Woolworth Building was formally opened on 24 April 1913. Every square inch had been let.

F.W. Woolworth Co. occupied the whole of the twenty-fourth floor, where the Founder had an opulent private office in the Napoleonic Style, known as the Empire Room (left and right).

The company had also taken part of the twenty-third floor, but was keen to remain a low-cost operator. All the remaining floors were sublet.

The building employed three hundred service men, who were responsible for everything from maintenance to lift and power operation. Each day a remarkable fifteen thousand people worked in the building, supplemented in the early years by thousands of visitors, who paid to travel up in the express lift to view Manhattan from above the clouds.

The cream of New York society attended a candlelit opening ceremony, which provided the perfect showcase for both Woolworth and his special guest, Thomas Alvar Edison. The men had persuaded the US President Woodrow Wilson to perform the opening in a unique ceremony. At the appointed hour he flicked a switch in the White House, which illuminated the building from top to bottom with bright electric lamps. The huge structure twinkled all the way to the clouds in the Manhattan Skyline. Frank Woolworth had long craved social acceptance. At a stroke he had achieved his goal twice over. The world's tallest building was also the first commercial property ever to get a Presidential opening. And, to his enduring satisfaction, it was also one of very few major building projects to break into profit by its opening day.