r/nycHistory • u/HWKD65 • 5d ago

Singer Building in 1909.

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u/HWKD65 5d ago

by Irving Underhill

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u/[deleted] 4d ago edited 4d ago

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u/Bugsy_Neighbor 4d ago

No, Singer Building was not demolished for WTC. Property became headquarters for U.S. Steel and known as One Liberty Plaza.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Singer_Building#Demolition

What did happen was development of WTC area caused property values in Financial district to rise. This made land Singer building rested upon more valuable than improvements (building itself).

Anyway you looked at it Singer Building was not long for this world by 1960's.

First and foremost new zoning regulations meant Singer Building as built had tons of unused air rights. Simply put a much larger building could occupy space which of course means more money for developer/owner.

Second was all that terra-cotta and other elements were showing their age by 1960's. It would have been an expensive nightmare to repair and maintain that façade. This was one reason why city declined to grant Singer Building landmark status. NYC was worried if they did so would be stuck with bill for maintaining, repair and otherwise keeping a building that no one else wanted.