Why New York Disgraced One Time Square (The Building Behind the Billboards)

Have you ever wondered what is behind the TV screens in time square? One Times Square, also known as the "Crossroads of the World", is a major intersection and neighborhood in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. It is located at the junction of Broadway and Seventh Avenue, and is the site of the annual New Year's Eve ball drop, which attracts over a million spectators each year. The area surrounding Times Square has been home to some of the city's most iconic landmarks and attractions, including the Broadway theaters, hotels, and restaurants. In this video, we'll take a look at the history of One Times Square and how it has become one of the most popular tourist destinations in the world.

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[gregoryferraro]

For most of my childhood, I thought One Times Square was actually a giant scaffold to support all those billboard screens. I was shocked to find out it was an actual building. I was even more shocked when I found out later in adulthood that it was a building that had been standing since the early 1900s and had once looked like a castle. It's a interesting story behind it at least, monstrosity it has become.

[straker]

If that building isn't what is is now, they would have demolished it. It's...sad to see the building covered but it's nice it's still there. It could easily become a pile of rubble and we all know that if they were willing to destroy Penn Station, this would have gone too. I honestly don't think NYC has ever been as architecturally beautiful as it was during the late 40's and in the 50's.

[ultragoji]

I have some fond memories of Times Square in the 1990's, from working in Midtown on Second Shift. I would walk through Times Square, on My way to Penn Station.
Two times stick out in My Memory:
1) I went into work at 4PM, one January Night. The facility was below ground, and at 12:30 in the Morning, I came up to a winter wonderland, with light snow still falling. I walked through a snow covered Times Square with no traffic around, and saw some kids, playing Touch Football in the snow, in the middle of the square, at 1 in the Morning. It seemed like something out of a Movie.
2) I was called into work, on September 12, 2001, for my regular shift. After shift, I walked through a darkened and abandoned Times Square. All the Stores were closed, the signs were darkened, and the only light there was, were streetlights, and the glow in the distance by the World Trade Center site

[anonymousm]

It's loud, brash, and gaudy, a perfect representation of how many Americans see NYC. I've been there a few times, and my wife went for the Y2K ball drop.

The building itself is an example of how much things change. While there are preservation efforts for buildings across the US that maintain their original or longest-held appearance, the Times Building kind of captures each particular era of Times Square as it evolves.

[littlejim]

It’s sad but the loss of some of the gilded age mansions, the Singer building, Yankee stadium and most of all Old Penn Station are much more tragic.

[aagc]

the original building was gorgeous. the recycle done afterwards... was just a demolition sustaining the original structure since nothing of the original building but the structure remains.

[ViraL_FootprinT.ex.e]

I avoid Times Square at all costs due to the insane amount of foot traffic, cops, tourists & bootleg costumed performers. So I never really even thought about the buildings behind the signs.

Thanks for this video.

[DeadDancers]

I used to think it was such a shame that such a beautiful building was covered up like that. It’s less sad now, knowing they uglied up the building first.

[Jolar]

For 12 years, up until the pandemic, I worked at 1500 Broadway, directly facing One Times Sq., across the street, at 43rd. During New Year's, we had special access to our building to either watch the ball drop across the street, or join the crowd below at the stoke of midnight. I only did it one year, and we ascended our building to an unfinished office that was parallel to the ball! So we were high up. And I was also pretty drunk, so the memories are in and out!

Yet, I am also a fan of architecture and, working there for so long, I took an interest in that special building so close to me, and its long history. When I started my job at 1500 in 2008, 1 Times Sq. was completely clad in signage. By the end of my time, they had peeled back some of it, exposing some of the actual 1960's Allied Chemical face of the building. It's extremely dated, but it was kind of cool to see it!

The signs pay for the building, which is mostly empty, above floor 3, which is a chain pharmacy. But the romantic part is what lived there before; from a museum exhibit, to a restaurant with a view, to a 1970's disco, to where the World STILL watches the new year chime in (in all weather!).

This was a GREAT, and totally unexpected, post, so thank you for doing this research!!!

[RamblOn]

The original facade was really beautiful! I didn’t know it originally looked like that. Only have seen the modern facade peeking through the billboards.

[RJLbwb]

The thing that caught my attention was that the 1920s was the end of Times Square as the theater district and after that was sleaze era until the commercialization in the '90s.
And the Allied Chemical renovation in the '60s was the real desecration of that building, just as well cover that brutalist horror up with adverts.

[LususxNaturae]

The way I was unaware of the renovation plans until now? When it opens, I might go one time for the one time. After that I’m going back to avoiding the area at all costs 🤣

[jeff__w]

I recall, very vaguely, visiting One Times Square in the mid-1960s, as a child, when it was the “Allied Chemical Building”—there was some kind of World’s Fair-type science exhibit there having to do with colors or some such.

I don’t mind the electronic/digital signage at One Times Square. Of course, in an ideal world, the historic 1904 façade of the building would be lovingly preserved, but, going off of what another commenter said, I think that practically everyone now thinks of the building as a almost just a “scaffold” for the signage—or, put a little differently, it’s the signage, rather than the building itself, which, rightly or wrongly, makes the iconic Times Square “look” what it is. It might be “the most honest reflection of mainstream American culture” but, to me, that doesn’t matter as much as the idea that it’s really, at this point, what Times Square _is._

[DrBovdin]

As it evolves with time, I kind of like it. I would not like to work (permanently) in the building itself (for what I hope is obvious reasons), but it has a place, not only in American, but western culture. There are only a few places like this in the world, another example that comes to mind is Shibuya in Tokyo, places where today is always today, but historically today.

[vanessarayfox]

I live in the city and the only time I've watched the ball drop was in 2020. Thanks to both covid and the travel restrictions it caused, there was almost no one down there!

[bootwheelwingandkeel]

I'd be really interested in learning more about how they programmed the zipper in the early days. It seems so simple now with computers but the mechanism that allows the lights to switch on and off in a way that makes the words scroll along.

[monteblanc]

My dad's office used to overlook that building. During his office Christmas parties, it made for an amazing backdrop. I remember the Fuji, Maxell and TDK billboards.

[ClementinesmWTF]

I really love your videos on architectural history. I frequent SkyscraperPage and I think a fatal flaw in their system is that they don’t consider buildings that have been significantly changed to be different things. One Times Square is a significantly different building from when it began, but all of the documentation on it says that the modern form is from 1905 when it was built.

I think another great example is the “Ritz Carlton Residence Club” in San Francisco. Past names for the building have included “the Old Chronicle Building” and “the de Young Building” and its had two different significant renovations since it’s initial construction in 1890 (the first added 2 additional floors and an annex in 1905, and the second added 8 additional floors in 2004).

SKP needs to reformat its entire system to account for these kinds of renovations and architectural changes; they don’t just apply to buildings as extreme as these, but also buildings like Sears Tower (the antennas added), the Empire State Building (its spire shrinking), or even Houston’s CenterPoint Energy Plaza (added a 90' extension 20+ years after construction)

[TheLepke]

This is my new favorite channel on YouTube. I love all the history and minor facts this guy can dig up and squeeze into less than 30 minutes.

[dj_react]

This was fantastic. I did not realize how early and how long the "seedy" times Square was. I had always just assumed it was a period between the 70s and 80s. Also, is 1 times Square occupied now between floors 3 and 15 or is that empty. You mention the ground floors and rooftop overlook but I don't remember anything about the middle. I had always heard it was vacant.
Great video!