Seamens Church Institute

50 Broadway | also 45 New Street, 47 New Street | Financial District | built 1927

Open on the map4 entries

Written with AI from the source each entry cites, then fact-checked.

1. 1888

   An earlier building on this site, the Tower Building, solves a 21.5-foot lot with an iron skeleton

   In 1887 a silk importer hired architect Bradford Lee Gilbert for an office building, but the only lot he could buy was 21.5 feet wide at 50 Broadway. Gilbert drew on his railroad-depot experience and carried the floors and walls on a hidden iron frame, like a bridge stood on end. That let the outer walls stay thin however high the building went.

   Source: Ephemeral New York

2. 1889

   Crowds gather to watch the Tower Building fall, until its architect climbs to the top to prove it safe

   When the 11-story Tower Building went up, skeptics expected it to fall. According to a PBS account cited by Ephemeral New York, onlookers gathered at a safe distance during windy days to wait for the collapse. They were only convinced when Gilbert himself climbed to the peak and called the building safe.

   Source: Ephemeral New York

3. 1913

   December

   The Tower Building, foreclosed on by a Standard Oil holding company, is vacated and torn down

   A Standard Oil holding company, the Morris Building Company, bought the Tower Building in foreclosure in 1909 for $1.68 million. By 1913 it was unprofitable for lack of tenants, and it was emptied in December. Demolition ran into 1914, when the Woolworth Building already stood at 792 feet.

   Source: Wikipedia

4. 1914

   January

   The Sun mourns the Tower Building as the ancestor of the Woolworth and Singer towers as it is dismantled

   On the day in January 1914 when workers were taking the Tower Building apart, The Sun ran a wistful article calling it an experiment that succeeded despite ridicule and began the era of tall buildings. Only 25 years old, it was replaced by a 37-story office tower in the 1920s.

   Source: Ephemeral New York

Further reading

• The short, forgotten life of New York City’s first skyscraperEphemeral New York

Nearby

• Exchange Court Building52 Broadway | 3 entries
• Continental Bank Building30 Broad Street | 3 entries
• Harriman Building39 Broadway | 3 entries
• Standard Oil Building26 Broadway | 11 entries
• Adams Express Building61 Broadway | 3 entries
• New York Stock Exchange18 Broad Street | 13 entries

All 276 buildings with stories in Financial District