It always surprises me how much I learn about America while in Germany. For instance I went into Woolworths to get some household items because they are very reasonably priced here. Since I am trying, sometimes not too successfully, to buy only necessary items at the moment, I didn't end up getting that things. However, while waiting to pay I noticed there was a huge sign behind the checkout telling all about the Woolworth building in NYC. To be honest, I didn't even realize there was a Woolworths building! As I stood there, I learned that the building was completed in 1913 and known as the tallest building of its time. According to the sign, Frank Woolworth, who commissioned the building, paid everyone who worked on the building in cash. It's time like these that I don't feel well educated for someone who's been to New York City multiple times and loves architecture and history.
Sidenote: How is it that there are still Woolworths abroad when all of them in the US went bankrupt years ago?
Of course, I came home and immediately went on wikipedia to read about the building. When it was built it cost 13.5 million which is amazing considering what an average person made and spent during the 1910s. Even more impressive was the President, Woodrow Wilson, turned on the lights from Washington D.C. with a press of a button.
Sadly, according to wikipedia, since Sept 11, you can no longer see the lobby which contained mosaics, murals, and stain-glassed ceiling lights and bronze fixtures. But you can book a tour of the lobby! https://woolworthtours.com
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