Sic Transit

From the New York Public Library’s collection of stereoscopic views, “Syndicate and St. Paul Buildings, Highest Office Buildings in the World, New York City.”

We’re looking east down Vesey Street, towards Broadway and Park Row. The treed area to the right isn’t a park – that’s the grounds of St. Paul’s Chapel. The low-rise building at the corner of Vesey and Broadway, on the left at the far end of the row, was the Astor House hotel, built in 1834; the low-rise buildings on the north side of Vesey west of the hotel probably date from the 1840s or 50s. The hotel and other buildings are all gone. The tall building on the right is the St. Paul Building, named after the chapel, and now gone. The tall building on the left is now known as the Park Row Building. During its planning and early days it was sometimes known as the Syndicate Building or the Ivins Building: “syndicate” for its joint ownership as a speculative venture, and “Ivins” after the man who organized the investors.

The Park Row Building was the tallest ordinary building (as opposed to a decorative tower) in the world from its completion in 1899 until the Singer Building passed it in 1908. The title alluding to that, and the use of the name “Syndicate Building,” strongly suggest that this view was published between 1900 and 1905. The NYPL web page has the creation date listed as “1870 – 1925 (Questionable)” – it was definitely no earlier than 1899 (when Park Row was completed) and no later than 1913 (when the visible portion of the Astor House was demolished).

Other than skyscraper-history geeks [waves], I doubt one person in a hundred in New York could identify Park Row as the tallest building or identify St. Paul at all.