You can excuse the utter incoherence; it is 1890, after all. Stack the floors, put on a pediment, slap on a dome: skyscraper style in nothing flat!
During the 19th century, many high-rise buildings were constructed by newspaper companies along Park Row, immediately east of the old New York City Hall. This developed into a competition and a race for the tallest. Other contenders included the Tribune Building designed by Richard Morris Hunt (1876), the Potter Building (1886), the Park Row Building (1899), and two other buildings by George Post, the St. Paul Building (1895–1898), and the old Times Building (1889).
The New York World Building was the winner of this competition and the tallest building in New York City for about five years. It was the city's first building to surpass the 284-foot spire of Trinity Church which, at the time, dominated the city's skyline.
It was torn down in '55 to enhance the capacity of a Brooklyn Bridge ramp.
