GENERAL DESCRIPTION 



THE SLNGEK BUILDING 1897-1900 



IN the Spring of 1906 the Singer Buildings con- 

 sisted of the Singer Building proper, a ten-story 

 structure, located on the northwest corner of 

 Broadway and Liberty Street, with a frontage of 

 58 feet on Broadway and 110 feet on Liberty Street; 

 and of the Bourne Building, a fourteen-story structure, 

 adjoining the Singer Building on the west, with a 

 frontage of 74 feet 10 inches on Liberty Street. 

 These two buildings were erected about ten years 

 ago, from plans by Mr. Ernest Flagg. 



At various times before 1906 the Singer Com- 

 pany purchased 52 feet, 10$ inches on Liberty Street, 

 adjoining the Bourne Building on the west, and 74 

 feet 10$ inches on Broadway, adjoining the Singer 

 Building on the north. 



In the latter part of 1905 the Company commis- 

 sioned Mr. Flagg to prepare plans for a fourteen- 

 story structure to adjoin tin- Bourne Building on the 



\\cst. This new building was called the "Bourne 

 Building Addition" and will be so designated through- 

 out the description. 



About the same time the project of extending 

 the front of the original Singer Muilding northward 

 on Broadway and erecting a tower of some forty 

 odd stories. :5() feet back of this front, was accepted 

 by the Singer Company, and the plans for this part 

 of the building, henceforth called the "Singer Build- 

 ing Addition," or the "Tower," were begun. 



To unite these four buildings into one structure it 

 was necessary to alter the original Singer and Bourne 

 Buildings internally and to carry connecting corridors 

 from the Singer Tower, located on Broadway, at one 

 end of the group, through the old buildings to the 

 Bourne Building Addition at the other end of the 

 group on Liberty Street. Moreover, the old Bourne 

 Building had only three comparatively small elevators. 

 It was decided to change these to four larger eleva- 

 tors, capable of serving not only the old building, 

 but also the Bourne Building Addition. This work 

 was called the "Bourne Building Alteration." 



After the scheme had progressed thus far, the 

 Singer Company realized that access to the upper 

 four stories of both the Bourne Building and the 

 Bourne Building Addition, from the corresponding 

 stories in the Singer Tower, would be very difficult 

 because of the gap caused in the group by the lower 

 height of the old Singer Building. The Company 

 therefore caused an examination to be made into the 

 feasibility of increasing the height of the old building 

 by adding four stories. 



Accordingly, the architect's engineer, Mr. O. F. 

 Semsch, reported a plan for reenforcing the building 

 through the installation of additional column lines 

 and footings, which was adopted. This work of 

 raising the old Singer Building to a height uniform 

 with that of the Bourne and Bourne Addition was 

 known as the "Singer Building Extension." 



It will thus be seen that the improvements really 

 comprised four distinct operations, all carried on at 

 practically the same time, although the work on the 

 Bourne Building Addition was begun first. 



A fact worthy of note is that the work was not 

 let to a general contractor, but the various branches 

 were separately contracted for by the owners, under 

 the immediate supervision and direct control of the 

 architect. This arrangement assured greater com- 

 petition in the taking of estimates, and permitted the 



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