Title: Lower Manhattan 1915
Subtitle: Lower Manhattan, circa 1915
Text: A view of the Lower Manhattan skyline from the Hudson River around 1915 is dominated by the Woolworth Building, which at 792 feet was the tallest in the world from 1913 until the late 1920s. The second-tallest spire visible is an earlier record holder, the 612-foot Singer Tower, completed in 1908. Squeezed onto the same block was the contemporary City Investing Company Building; both were demolished in 1968 to make way for One Liberty Plaza.
The future site of the World Trade Center can be seen covered by low structures near the waterfront and inland on Church Street between Cortlandt and Fulton by the pair of 22-story brick-faced blocks of the Hudson Terminal buildings. On their completion in 1909, they constituted -- like the later Twin Towers -- the largest office complex yet constructed. Visible to the right of the Singer Tower, on the waterfront, is 90 West Street, the 1907 neo-Gothic gem by Cass Gilbert, architect of the Woolworth Building, which was severely damaged on 9/11.
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