“The charm of history and its enigmatic lesson consist in the fact that, from age to age, nothing changes and yet everything is completely different.”(Aldous Huxley) One of the biggest “hot spots” in Manhattan, NY (the city of lights) today is Times Square. When standing in the middle of Times square, one gets a rush of the city, its smells, sounds, people, but most importantly it’s sights: lights and billboards engulf the viewer. At the center of the “square” is what used to be the building that inhabited the largest newspaper company in the country, the New York Times, but is today the largest billboard tower in the world. How did we get from such a stately Gothic style building to concrete, metal, marble, and lights? How did One Times Square go from building to billboard?
One Times Square's roots go back to the early 20th century when the newspaper, The New York Times was building The Times Tower, its new headquarters in what was then called Long Acre Square. This building was probably one of Eidlitz. As its steel skeleton ascended into the sky, it was covered in brick, terra cotta and limestone. Upon completion in 1904, the 25-story skyscraper, at 395 feet was acknowledged as the second tallest building in the world. As The Times Tower made its presence known, the surrounding area was renamed Times Square which even then with its Broadway theaters and New Year's Eve celebrations (also started by the NY Times) began to become the 'town square' of Manhattan.
After the building was completed in 1904, The Times began to conduct rooftop celebrations for New Years Eve as the official beginning of the New Year, which we heavily connect to time. 1907 Was the start of the ball dropping tradition, which was inhabited from the navy. With it’s height, the tower could be seen for miles around midtown and became the perfect spot for this celebration. Making it an illuminated ball increased its night visibility and was also a chance to show off a new technology - electricity. It's been an annual tradition ever since.
Its first actual connection to the sign industry was in 1928 when the New York Times encircled its building with its famous "zipper" headliner. This was one of the earliest outdoor message reader boards that provided the passing public with electronic messages about the breaking news as it happened. In an interesting note, Times Square is now flooded with various evolved reader boards (Reuters, ABC, Morgan Stanley, etc) all based on the original 1928 Times Tower electric message board.
The Times Tower Douglas Leigh in 1961. This was the man who brought animated billboards to Times Square and immortalized Time Square with its famous Camel billboard with its smoking ring. To modernize its look, the entire building was renovated with a sleek marble exterior of vertical columns and panels. Even with its white vertical corrugated look, it continued its original traditions of displaying the zipper around the building and on top, the ball drop at the stroke of midnight, New Years Eve.
Times square has been not only the center of the crossroads in NY but also of the World since the 19th century but it’s icon, the times building, has gone through drastic change through the years. Whether it’s money making was on the inside; full of writers and editors, or on the outside with billboards and not a single tenant, this building has become a success, an icon, and has stood the tests of time.
1 comment:
well done!
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