When New York Destroyed a Skyscraper in its Prime | The Rise and Fall of Gillender Tower

[@MildMisanthropeMaybeMassive]

The Singer Tower, Gillender Building, and Penn Station were true losses that are missed.

[@raineypiechowski3032]

And the Millionare's row mansions built around central park at the turn of the century

[@pauldeboef8083]

And the New York Tribune Building.

[@LandNfan]

I am amazed by the tiny footprint of this building. 22’ x 74’ is smaller than many double-wide modular homes.

[@AEMoreira81]

Hence why it was torn down after barely a dozen years. What could be reused would be reused in the Bankers Trust building, which still stands today and is a NYC landmarked building.

[@singerbuilding6787]

In my opinion, it is one of the few times that there is a good justification for the demolition of the Gillender building. The Gillender Building is an example of the possible future of super-slim skyscrapers in New York.

[@tayntp]

There is also the gigantic ‘City Hall Post Office’ on the triangular tip of Broadway / Park Row, across from the Woolworth Building. It got razed down to be now a City Hall Park.

[@arduous1914]

Great Vid! You should do a video about the lost and almost forgotten radio row that was replaced by the World Trade Center!

[@singerbuilding6787]

I agree, I would like to know about the history of the site.

[@doctorinsomnia5410]

I can't believe you actually found video footage of the Gillender building, way to go, preserve that lost history.....

[@IamSnowbird]

I'm so glad I found this channel. I'm a little bit of a history nerd so I love obscure subjects. Happy holidays.

[@GardenerEarthGuy]

I remember three skyscrapers being brought down years ago, and replaced. This definitely happens through the years....

[@BAYBAY_316]

It happens more in America than any other country I imagine and that makes me sad as an American

[@MitchellOrd]

@@BAYBAY_316 Japan is worse for that stuff, they just demolished the iconic Nakagin Capsule Tower

[@BAYBAY_316]

@@MitchellOrd that's suprising to hear

[@sarahcoleman3125]

I work in a 105 year old building that originally got its heat and hot water from the brass refinery across the street. It was originally the Administrative building for the refinery, so I guess it was a matter of course. The refinery was torn down 30 years ago, and my boss had to retro fit an HVAC system into the building. They had boilers for a while, using the old steam radiators, but they failed a few years ago. I imagine all the old pipes are clogged up with calcium deposits by now.

[@moorec1053]

good job Ryan S 🙂 I had never heard of this building before. But it was only around for 15 years, so i guess that is not surprising. Seeing as how its "safety" might have been suspect, perhaps it is just as well.? As you say, it was replaced by a better building that is also attractive. Thanks Again for your efforts in all these videos.! 🙂

[@ctntelevisionnetwork8738]

Excellent video as always! Fan since the singer tower video. I have a video proposal. It’s for the old post office at city hall New York Lower Manhattan. It was destroyed in the 1930s.

[@edwardloomis887]

Another major event immediately after the 1st building was completed that changed dynamics significantly by making Manhattan preeminent was the consolidation of New York's five boroughs into a single unit in 1898.

[@The-Friendly-Grizzly]

Great video as usual. Request. When you frame photos, PLEASE use a static background instead of the sweeping logo. It’s a bit boggling. Thanks!

[@jenniferadams7582]

I mainly come here for the architecture but I love your history breakdown of the buildings a lot as well.

[@jenniferadams7582]

Oh and anything with trains. That train ferry video blew my mind

[@markmitchell457]

Try living in Los Angeles. I was born there I lived there until 1977. I left until 1985. When I came back it was almost a completely different City. I moved to San Diego and return to Los Angeles to visit in 2022. The only thing I recognized was City Hall. I couldn't find Randy's donut shop, (the giant stucco donut on top of a small shop, you have seen in the movies.) I don't know if it was torn down, moved, or I just couldn't find the damn thing.

[@derek20la]

Search "Randy's Donuts Space Shuttle"

[@markmitchell457]

@@derek20la I was told Randy's is still there, same stucco donut. The other stucco wonder Tail of the Pup is also still there. Some stuff survived. Still L.A. doesn't keep anything not on a historic register.

[@EM6285]

Thanks. I was waiting for this one as I like the Slender Tower that was The Gillender Building!

[@marshmangunnar9150]

Shouldn't it be called a BUILT once complete? An old Carlin joke I believe, great vid!

[@salsheikh4508]

Another great knowledge nugget, Sir!

[@sheldoncampbell2139]

super tall and super thin is nothing new after all! great video and what a loss!

[@phil159]

The Gillender building was in a very prime location and had realatively little rentable space, each floor plate was TINY after elevators and stairs are considered. its fate was prosiac. The orginal 1 wall St was an even smaller orginal skyscaper.. This was before many of the small orginal lots had been combined. Its neighbor the Hannover Bank building (which can be seen in many of the photos) was a much more signifigent building and a bigger loss.

[@bobbybobby4412]

Unfortunate

[@jamesru1]

In Australia I worked on a Jobsite for 10 months it was on a real tight block of land and a building about an inch from the edge of the new building it was 21 storeys tall

[@EM6285]

The photos used for depict its construction are actually the photos of its demolition. You can tell by the large building next to it...

[@Tipi_Dan]

The fancy post-Victorian gingerbread of the Gillender Building is well surpassed by the massive proto-deco style of it's successor.

[@Westleymiller1343]

The gillender building, a beautiful building was demolished to make way for another great building

[@richhoule3462]

The City That Owns a State

[@stephendeluca4479]

One thing that's changed about NY over the years is how people unhesitatingly adopt the new names of old buildings. 14 Wall Street will always be the Bankers Trust Building. The Met Life Building will always be the Pan Am Building. It doesn't matter what name they slap on it on any given day. Have New Yorkers dropped the IRT, BMT and IND designations now too? I guess you have so many people living in NY now who aren't from there that they don't know the past.

[@mikedrown2721]

😢

[@qolspony]

My concern would be all the people used to build it and who died from it construction effects.

[@trainrover]

the problem with ever cornering the market is sacrificing charm or even character for domineering industriousness that was proving to be all the rage around Corporateria, right............

[@michaelhurley3171]

NY developers don't need AlQuada. They can destroy buildings by themselves!

[@frankmarkovcijr5459]

New York like most American cities 100 years ago was beautiful now my city virtually just not exist anymore.

[@StLouis-yu9iz]

The greenest building is an existing one. They could have built the 14 Wall Street building somewhere else.

[@xandercruz900]

So was the building 14 Wall street replaced the original building built there? No? Then how does what you said make any logical sense?

[@StLouis-yu9iz]

@@xandercruz900 The Gillender Tower likely replaced low-rise buildings. My main point is that if there is already a good looking high-density building on a site; every effort should be made to preserve it. Instead of trying to build an EVEN taller building on the same lot. This is why U.S. cities are missing the middle density housing so often. Downtowns get taller and taller but the dense part of a city just abruptly ends instead of tapering into lower density but still dense mixed-use walkable neighborhoods. So instead of tearing down the Gillender Tower, the developer of 14 Wall street could have saved the material and energy that went into that already massive building and built their tower in one of the other Burroughs. Just food for thought.

[@craigjensen6853]

@@StLouis-yu9iz They should have moved it to Jersey, brick by brick.

[@Right-Is-Right]

The reason it was torn down is simple, the foundations made out of concrete filled tubes in that time period were not steel re-inforced. which pretty much is guaranteed to crumble in the centre, leaving only steel, shile the steel would not last long in the dirt. In fact, concrete rusts steel out, so soon enough there would of been lots of rusting steel filled with crumbling concrete, not exactly a long lasting foundation.

[@johnv7215]

And now it takes so many years to build a building

[@jetsons101]

It's amazing that Disneyland was built in one year, 1955, and is still going strong, can't say much for the CEO's lately thought.

[@HelpICantThinkOfACleverName]

Well, there were much fewer safety regulations back then. It might take longer nowadays, but it saves lives and people's body parts. I say it's worth it.