Imagine a 2020 where both the Tribune and the World just finished years long renovations into (probably) apartments. That would be something.
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I don’t get how they justified demolishing this. I mean, I get the World Building for a ramp because of a basic T junction not being great for all that traffic, but this was demolished for a 3 story multi-block building. I don’t get what slight benefit comes out of demolishing a 20-story landmark.
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Existing (left) and proposed (right) public entryway – Woods Bagot
Existing interior space (left) and proposed renovations (right) – Woods Bagot
Existing (left) and proposed mezzanine (right) – Woods Bagot
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Awesome! Looks like the one from the right side is the Metropolitan Realty Blgd. right? I was in need of some closer pics like this one, not anymore, thank you.
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Yup, that’s Metro on the right. I’ve been doing some digging on this area since I’m expanding towards it on my new project, and the buildings here are very forgotten and underrated.
I think the rarest one here is the one named the Black Building(ironically white); besides the tax photo there isn’t one direct photo of it anywhere. Being in the World Building’s shadow didn’t do it much good either.
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Oh the old problem of being built too close to an iconic building in NYC. From now on I’ll pay attention to try to notice this building in other photos.
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(unknown photograph), Pulitzer Building under construction, June 21, 1907, from the Collections of the Museum of the City of New York
(unknown photograph), Pulitzer Building, October 25, 1907, from the Collections of the Museum of the City of New York
George Post drawing of the New York World Building. (courtesy The Skyscraper Museum)
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Early rendering of the World Building
World Building under construction c. 1890
Tribune Building c. 1962, after the demolition of the World Building & Black Building
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“The Metropolitan Realty Building at 220 William Street is valuable to New Yorkers as showing the effect of vigorous simplicity with but little architectural treatment”
214-216 William Street; 1892-1963.
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August 1958: Brooklyn Bridge entrance under construction. The Metropolitan Realty Building and Black Building are on either side of the span, and the World Building formerly stood in front of the latter
The Brooklyn Bridge seen from Brooklyn c. 1962
Newspaper Row rendering showing the recently upgraded Tribune Building c. 1909
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Looks like the Manhattan Bridge off in the distance at the top:
http://www.nycvintageimages.com/content/aerial-overview-woolworth-building-circa-1930
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From the outside of the Singer Building, I believe that the most interesting parts were its top, with the curved mezzanine, the domed roof and its giant lantern. What impresses me a lot is that there are no specific photos or drawings of these parts. Sometimes I wonder if the photographers who took thousands of pictures of that region tried to do that but were not allowed for some reason. I think this is one of the rarest pictures (and the only one I ever found) of the Singer where we can actually have a closer look at least on a small part of its roof
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I always wanted a good look at the four large gargoyles on the corners of the roof, which I’m pretty sure the man in that shot is clinging onto. They’re very rarely photographed.
Even worse is that they were taken off in 1953 so by the time Chase went up they were long gone.
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Brooklyn Bridge entrance with the large terminal structure, showing the Metropolitan and Black Buildings
1939: Looking down on the Metropolitan Realty and Rhinelander Buildings from the Municipal Building
Question: does anyone know what was in those lots between the bridge and the buildings? I noticed here that if you brighten the image, you’ll see a fence between the bridge span and the Metro Building on the left.
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Top of the Singer Building 1910
New York 1915 New York skyline from Manhattan Bridge
Manhattan circa 1908. “The Heart of New York.” Landmarks in this panorama include Broadway, City Hall Park, the City Hall Post Office, the Singer, Park Row, Home Life Insurance and City Investing buildings and, far left, Manhattan Terminal. Note the observer taking in the scene from the cupola atop the domed New York World building.
Singer Building after completion 1908
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The back of the Metropolitan Building, awesome! It’s funny in the first times I saw that building I thought it had a rectangular shape… so wrong 
I’m not sure if I understood the question about the lots correctly, but I think it was probably just William St. between them.
Mackensen, those are also awesome shots from the top! I’m using them to have a better idea of how that antenna and part of the lantern used to look. Unfortunately they’re not in a very good quality because they were taken from a journal page, I wish their originals still exist somewhere, although it’s unlikely.
IHateUSSteel, there is a good one to see how those ornaments at the top used to look, but still not so close as I would like. I got it from the Library of Congress digital collection in a .TIF format, if you’d like to search for it there. I couldn’t find a hoster which allows me to upload .TIF files. I thought this one had already been sent here.
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I think the NYPL has a photo fairly high/close up that shows the roof in high res also. Strange that the most integral part of the building was never or rarely documented properly.
What I meant about the lots is that the Metropolitan Realty and Black Buildings both front William (and metro fronts rose too) but the side facing the bridge wasn’t directly flush with it, as you can see there are some gaps in between the buildings and the bridge.
I noticed in that one awesome Tribune photo Mackensen posted a while back that even though Metropolitan Realty had it’s most detailed facade facing the bridge, there was a party wall on the first floor facing the bridge:
Then when I thought to go back and brighten up that 1959 bridge photo, I noticed a fence is there between William and the lot:
So I’m very curious to what was there/went on there.
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