Any book or pictures or related stories about the demolition of the Singer Tower? Also, the Landmark Preservation Group was formed in 1963 after the demise of New York's Penn Station. Where where they when the Singer Tower was being demolished? In my opinion, this was New York's most beautiful skyscraper. What a shame especially if you look at what replaced it! The AIA Guide called its replacement (built for U.S. Steel) a "hovering hulk".

• ID# 96.2 (reply to #96.1) - 9 Jan 1999
  I don't know of any such pictures or resources myself.
  What comes to the LPG members' activities while the tower was being reduced to rubble, I guess they sat in traffic jams on interborough toll queues, attended meetings and had lunch -- whatever the working days on Manhattan comprise of... ED

• ID# 96.3 (reply to #96.1)
  From: Frank Gerlak ([email protected]) - 14 Jan 1999

  Unfortunately "Nero" fiddled while "Rome" burned. I refer you to my submission form entry on the life span of a skyscraper. Here is a perfect case of the return on investment (Singer Building) running out or being minimized to the point that an "adequate" return was either impossible or undesirable. Undesirable because a larger "hulkier" building with a higher return was more desirable. The fault in this logic, in the big picture, is that the money will be made in the short run for an investor and go into their pocket. In the long run (50 years or so) New Yorkers will have to live with the "Hulking US Steel Building" until it outlives its cash flow (I hope that is sooner than I think).

• ID# 96.4 (reply to #96.1)
  From: Chris - 14 Jul 1999

  I think the Singer still has the 'honor' of being the tallest building to be leveled..not quite sure tho..
  Chris

• ID# 96.5 (reply to #96.1)
  From: Scott Burgess ([email protected]) - 9 November 2004

  There are some excellent photos of the Singer under demolition at the Library of Congress Website: loc.gov. It is under the section called Historic American Buildings Survey.