The Pabst Hotel From the November issue: Workers began what is considered to be the nation’s first demolition of a building constructed using the revolutionary steel-frame system 109 years ago this month, when they started dismantling the nine-story Pabst Hotel to make way for the New York Times headquarters.
Skeptics of the steel-frame engineering — which first came into use in the mid-1880s, leading to the proliferation of skyscrapers — thought buildings’ support structure would rust or weaken over time. “In the minds of a great many people the impression is firmly implanted that the steel frame will continue in use until a ‘skyscraper’ collapses in a pile of rubbish and a cloud of dust” as a result of corrosion, a writer in the Times wrote that year.
The deconstruction of the Pabst building at the intersection of 42nd Street, Broadway and Seventh Avenue gave developers the first chance to see the impact on a steel building over time. Click here for more real estate history. Compiled by Adam Pincus
