Once New York's Tallest Skyscraper

Combining several innovations--steel structure, elevators, central heating, electrical plumbing pumps and the telephone--skyscrapers came to dominate American skylines at the turn of the century. The world's tallest building when it opened in 1913, architect Cass Gilbert's 793-foot Woolworth Building was considered a leading example of tall building design. Soon one of many new towering structures, the Woolworth building and other skyscrapers symbolized America's "can do" spirit.