Woolworth Building – Exterior and Interior

Cass Gilbert’s design for a romantic, Gothic-inspired polychromatic terra-cotta exterior over a steel-cage tower joined Midwestern theories of structural expression with Eastern preferences for historical styles. Woolworth Building’s design embodied concepts elaborated in the post-World War I skyscrapers which permanently redefined the skyline of New York and the image of twentieth-century urban America. As the tallest building in the world for sixteen years it gained an international reputation.

The first floor of the Woolworth Building was built in an extraordinary Gothic-style design. It joins an arcade with a marble staircase hall. It is an excellent and well-executed programmatic design, illustrated with attributes of the Woolworth Company which ultimately became the Foot Locker Retail, Inc.

The design of the interior combined the spatial and symbolic requirements of Woolworth and of the Irving National Bank. In size, richness and conception the interior was unprecedented in New York skyscrapers, and it has rarely been equalled since its construction, in New York or elsewhere.

STATUS Designated Exterior and Interior Landmarks

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Doreen Gallo: DUMBO Neighborhood Alliance

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Fern Luskin: Lamartine Place Historic District; Friends of Lamartine Place & Gibbons Underground Railroad Site

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Zella Jones: NoHo Historic District; NoHo East; and NoHo Extension

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Erika Petersen: West End Preservation Society

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"HDC has begun a series of projects to highlight the Bronx's architectural and cultural history. From booklet's and research highlighting specific sites and historic districts to the HDC's symposium in October 2018 to the latest community-based committee to look into further possible sites to qualify for landmarking, the HDC has established projects that will serve the Bronx community well."

Elena Martinez
City Lore, Folklorist
Bronx Music Heritage Center, Co-Artistic Director

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