WOOLWORTH BUILDING
233 Broadway between Park Place and Barclay Street
MARCH 26, 1936. ABBOTT FILE 89
Woolworth Building,
variant image
Across Broadway from the old post office was the Woolworth Building, designed by Cass Gilbert for the five-and-dime store magnate. The tallest building in the world from 1913 to 1931, it was also the first to apply the imagery of the Gothic cathedral to the skyscraper form.
Standing in front of the post office (top left corner), Abbott pointed the camera upward, juxtaposing the massive shaft of the 66-story Gothic facade with the mundane 44-story Transportation Building (York & Sawyer, 1928). She chose this composition over a variant, which focused solely on the Woolworth Building.
Although the post office was demolished in 1938, the two skyscrapers still stand.