Woolworth Building (1913)

"In 1913, Woolworth laid out 270 million nickels for a New York City headquarters that would serve as a "giant signboard to advertise around the world a spreading chain" of stores. Gilbert's solution—a marriage of 15th-century Gothic and 20th-century verticality—so delighted the discount king that he stamped its image on Woolworth products. His successors held court in the 24th-floor Empire Room, furnished with Napoleonic treasures hauled back from Europe, before the last five-and-dime closed in 1998—a decade after Woolworth lost its spot on the Dow Jones index to Wal-Mart."

Pinnacles of Power: Photo Essay -- Trophy buildings rise at the peak of a company's influence. They survive as monuments to greatness past. Fortune.com August 31, 2005.












Photo credit: Andrew Moore