New York’s LOST Skyscraper - The Rise and Fall of SINGER TOWER - IT'S HISTORY

Today we explore the famous Singer Tower, a New York City skyscraper that once defined an era, and has now been completely forgotten. Upon its completion it was the tallest building in the world, surpassing Philadelphia’s city hall which was the previous record holder. The Singer building was one of the worlds most beautiful examples of urban architecture - now it is an example of poor historic preservation.

This episode was based on the work of O.F. SEMSCH - A History of The Singer Building Construction, It's Progress from Foundation to Flag Pole, if you’d like me to create and audio book version here on it’s history SUBSCRIBE NOW! 1,000 new subscribers and I will make the video!

Index:
00:00 - New York City's North River in 1679
01:27 - Why Was the Singer Tower built?
02:12 - The History of Construction of the Singer building
03:17 - The concept behind Singer Tower
03:50 - The History of the Singer building engineering room
05:00 - How much coal did Singer tower burn?
08:13 - The Dome of the Singer building
08:38 - The Clock system of Singer tower
09:43 - The elevators of Singer tower
10:38 - The vault of Singer tower
10:42 - Singer tower completion
11:15 - The down fall of Singer tower
13:30 - The Demolition of Singer tower

» Mentioned Videos:

"Lower Manhattan from Brooklyn Heights Promenade (1964)" by roger4336 is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0

"Lower Manhattan from Lackawanna Ferry (1964)" by roger4336 is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0

"New York - Lower Manhattan (Postcard c.1914)" by roger4336 is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0

"Big Buildings of Lower Manhattan" by sjrankin is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0

John Antherton

Vaticanus

AVID Vines

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[ITSHISTORY]

This is going to be a BIG video! We bring Singer Tower back to life for the first time since 1969!!! HIT THE BELL !!!!

[ЕДМ]

I'm from Saint-Petersburg, Russia, and there we have a Singer building still, it's one of the landmarks and art nouveau masterpieces.

[Darrigrande]

A very sad story! The Singer Tower was not only a masterpiece of arquitecture and enginering, but also a work of art. The newyorkers went mad in the sixties because they demolished very iconic buildings, like the Roxy Theater, the old Met and the magnificent Pennsilvania Station as well!

[kaifowler]

My Great Great Grandfather C.T Wills was the contractor who built the Singer Tower. Thank you for such a great and informative video. This history deserves to be remembered.

[wzdavi]

I always thought that NYC's original sin was the demolition of Pennsylvania Station. I completely forgot about the Singer Tower.

[WaterLemon]

Architect 1: “what should we replace this building with”
Architect 2: “A BIG BLUE BOX”

[finntastique]

Madness! The same mass-psychosis swept all over the western world in the 1960s and 1970s. What WWII didn't destroy, real-estate developers accomplished in those days.

[markbender]

This terrific video stirred up my memory of being in the building shortly before it's demolition. I remember standing in awe looking at the opulent lobby and it's beautiful red veined cream color marble. Thanks for posting.

[imsosmart]

As someone who owns AND USES a very old Singer rmachine, and someone who loves architecture, I found this program fascinating!

[CinHotlanta]

I am a huge architecture buff and I have never heard of Singer Tower - this is a literal jaw-drop for me

[troytheboy]

Can’t believe I’ve never heard of this before. The history is crazy

[CompSci]

"A thing of beauty is a joy forever" is actually a quote from the poet Keats.

[BGEntertainmentGroup]

Such a magnificent building and it only had a lifespan of less than 80 years... Tragic and heartbreaking.

[yox]

My mother-in-law was an elevator operator at the Singer Building in the late 1940s. Dept. 56 made a ceramic model of it that I bought in her honor. Until now I never saw how beautiful the inside was. Thank you.

As a kid I was once looking through an older book in our house and I found a ticket to the top of the Singer Building.

[coinslotsandjoysticks]

My grandfather worked there after the war and he said coal was delivered every 4 hours day and night all winter long. I have about 200 pictures my grandfather took while he was employed there. It's awesome seeing the inside of it. Most are pictures of areas most people would never see unless you were a employee

[MostlyLoveOfMusic]

Deconstructing this building was insanity! One of the most attractive skyscrapers ever, and so much hard work and effort to build it in the first place.

[eugeniozanda]

Can you imagine how much more fascinating New York would be today if they hadn't eliminated certain historical/architectural gems...?

[MirceaD]

That was a gorgeous building. Sad is gone...

[cindybogart]

My Mom was born & raised in NYC. I remember her taking me & my siblings there to see it before it was torn down. I have An old Singer sewing machine that I restored & proudly sits in my Living room on display. Great videos.Thank you for sharing these great history on NYC.