Woolworth Building ca. 1939

Frank Woolworth opened his first store in 1879. By 1910, he owned more than 600 Woolworth five-and-dime stores nationwide. On the prestigious site he acquired on Broadway across from City Hall Park, he envisioned a Gothic building soaring taller than the Metropolitan Life Insurance Building at the time the world's tallest skyscraper. Architect Cass Gilbert, knowing that an authentic Gothic building of this scale would be impractical, built a modern steel skeleton clad in masonry and terra cotta with Gothic details. From the 30-story base rose a 25-story tower, for a combined height of 792 feet. Nicknamed the Cathedral of Commerce, it reigned as the world's tallest skyscraper from its completion in 1913 until William Van Alen's Chrysler Building surpassed it in 1929.

A 1980s restoration of the exterior cost more than the original construction.