I have passed the
Woolworth Building 100+ times in my life. When it was built in 1910, the project was the tallest structure in the world and kept the title for nearly 18 years when it was surpassed by the
Bank of Manhattan Trust Building and later dropped to third place by the
Empire State Building in 1929. With the 100th anniversary approaching I think that the construction techniques of 1910 were not only impressive for its time, but almost 100 years later are still valid and should be studied by builders.
Persons schooled in architecture and construction are familiar with the basic construction progression of excavation, foundation, substructure, superstructure, and so on up to completion. What struck me when reading
The Master Builders (a public-domain book I found on Google Book search) was the innovative method of construction progression used on this project. This project used what is today called
Top/Down Construction, but used it 100 years ago to speed the delivery of the excavation, foundation, substructure, and superstructure all at the same time and thus reduce the overall project time.
Excerpts from THE MASTER BUILDERS;
by Hugh McAtamney & Co, 1913
BUILDING THE FOUNDATIONS
...the underground work of the Woolworth Building called for the largest single pneumatic caisson contract ever let in New York City or elsewhere. This work consisted of two main items; the sinking of the piers and the deep cellar excavation. Sixty-six reinforced concrete piers from ten to twenty feet in diameter, were sunk approximately one hundred and ten feet deep. They were installed by the pneumatic caisson process, and founded on bed rock. The material penetrated consisted entirely of the most treacherous material known to builders and engineers-quicksand.... After the piers were completed the erection of the steel work began at once, it being possible to do this because of special cofferdams which had been installed on the tops of the piers. This saved considerable time in the ultimate completion of the building inasmuch as the steel work was not delayed by the general cellar excavation both departments of the construction work being conducted simultaneously. ...this cellar was 55 feet deep. and partly in running quicksand. below water. and that 1.5.000 cubic yards of the quicksand was taken out without interrupting the general work on building. and without jeopardizing the large buildings on all sides the difficulty of the problems will be better understood and the achievement appreciated. This total of the underground work involved an outlay of one million dollars and was accomplished in less than contract time by The Foundation Company of 115 Broadway, New York City.This project illustrates how Top/Down Construction was executed 100 years ago. First the caissons were drilled. Once they were secured in the bedrock, shoring was installed around the perimeter (although given the contractor, William Starrett, this may have been done at the same time). With the caissons completed structural steel erection could begin. While the steel was moving up, the basement was being excavated.
I cannot describe William Starrett here because I will in no way do him or his career justice. Suffice it to say that William Starrett was the contractor responsible for delivering each of the three tallest structure in Manhattan from 1910 to 1930. These buildings(Woolworth Building, Bank of Manhattan Trust, and Empire State Building) were the World's tallest until the construction of the World Trade Center in 1970, the projects. In addition to these project, Starrett worked for his brother to build the Fuller or
Flatiron Building in 1902. So with at least four skyscrapers under his belt it goes without saying that William Starrett deserves some close examination. I have attained a copy of his book 'Skyscrapers and the Men Who Build Them' - 1928 and will eventually post some insights on that text.
To close I want to include a quote from Starretts'
Skyscrapers and the Men Who Build Them (1928) which I have taken from editor Carol Lewis' book 'Building the Empire State' (1998):
'Building skyscrapers is the nearest peace-time equivalent of war...The analogy to war is the strife against the elements. ...the service of supply in peace-time warfare, the logistics of building, and these men are soldier of a great creative effort'
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