Park Row Building

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Information
Park Row Building
Park Row Building was the world's tallest building from 1899 to 1908.†
Preceded by	Manhattan Life Insurance Building
Surpassed by	Singer Building
Location	New York City, USA
Status	Complete
Constructed	1899
Technical Details
Floor count	30
†Fully habitable, self-supported, from main entrance to highest structural or architectural top; see world's tallest structures for other listings.

The Park Row Building is a skyscraper built in 1899 in the Financial District in the New York City borough of Manhattan, across from New York City Hall. At 391 ft (119.2m) tall it was the tallest skyscraper in the world from 1899 until 1908, when it was surpassed by the Singer Building. In 1901, an announced building project by Aetna, to be located at 33rd Street and Broadway, would have overtaken Park Row as the tallest building at 455 feet high, but it was never built. The Park Row Building is 29 stories tall, 26 floors with two three-story cupolas.

The foundation of the Park Row Building was made of 3,900 Georgia spruce piles driven into wet sand and topped by granite blocks. Upon completion, approximately 4,000 people a day worked there.^[1]

1 Critical review
2 Recent developments
3 References
4 See also
5 External links

[edit] Critical review

The architectural critics of New York were not impressed with 15 Park Row. The New York Times quoted a critic, who in 1898 wrote in The Real Estate Record and Guide, "New York is the only city in which such a monster would be allowed to rear itself," and called the blank side walls "absolutely inexpressive and vacuous." In a 1908 article in The New York Times, a French architect, Augustin-Adolphe Rey wrote that "one side of it is an entirely bare wall -- what difference does it make how the other sides are treated?" Critic Jean Schopfer, in a 1900 article published by the mag hi azine Architectural Review and titled American Architecture from a Foreign Point of View, simply called the building "detestable."

[edit] Recent developments

In 1999, the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission designated the Park Row Building a landmark.

In 2000, plans were developed for a gut renovation of the entire structure. It included converting all floors above the 11th into 210 rental apartments, at a cost of over $30 million. All floors below the 11th were to remain commercial. The most unique apartments would be the pair made out of the two three-story cupolas.

A recent listing showed the makeup of the building as:^[2]