Daily News Building

The Daily News Building, also known as the News Building, is at 220 East 42nd Street in the Midtown East neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City, United States. The site is bounded by 42nd Street to the north, Second Avenue to the east, 41st Street to the south, and a private alley called Kempner Place to the west. The New York City Subway's Grand Central–42nd Street station (), the Chrysler Building, and the Socony-Mobil Building are all one block to the west. In addition, the Pfizer Building is across 42nd Street to the north, and Tudor City and the Ford Foundation Building are across Second Avenue to the east. == Architecture ==

Emporis and The Skyscraper Center describe the building as being approximately tall with 36 floors. The original portions of the building were designed by Raymond Hood and John Mead Howells as the headquarters of the New York Daily News. In contrast to Hood's earlier designs for the Tribune Tower in Chicago and the American Radiator Building in New York, both of which had Gothic ornament, the original structure is designed in the Art Deco style and lacks Gothic decoration. Hood designed the building around the Daily News practical needs, rather than based on aesthetics, though he did not "feel that the News Building is worse looking than some other buildings". According to Hood, both the owner and architect had agreed that "the most simple and direct way to get an effective exterior" was to incorporate colorful features. Harrison & Abramovitz designed the annex, which was completed in 1960. On the northeastern portion of the plot, at the corner of 42nd Street and Second Avenue, is Harrison & Abramovitz's 18-story annex. The tower's northern elevation along 42nd Street contains one large setback at the 9th story. The southern elevation has small setbacks at the 7th and 13th stories, as well as larger setbacks at the 27th story and just below the mechanical penthouses on the roof. The setbacks on the northern and southern elevations are visible from the west, creating a zigzag effect. These setbacks can also be seen on the eastern elevation, whose northernmost seven bays protrude slightly up to the 33rd story. an additional five stories, dating from the late 1950s, are set back from the original plant. though other observers stated that the windows could have been arranged in horizontal bands instead. The windows on different stories are separated horizontally by spandrel panels with black and reddish-brown bricks. The piers are similar to those that Hood had designed for 3 East 84th Street—where Daily News publisher Joseph Medill Patterson lived. The spandrel panels just below each setback are decorated with miniature setbacks, Hood decided to add "a small explosion of architectural effect" to the entrance and lobby, since he was given a $150,000 budget for their design. The granite-clad main entrance, at the base of the tower on 42nd Street, is three stories tall and five bays wide. The bas-relief has carvings of people and the phrase "He Made So Many of Them". the figure directly below the word "He" may represent Lincoln. The western elevation bears a granite inscription of a quote from Patterson, proclaiming the building as "Home of the News", while the southern elevation has five loading docks. The top of the facade is plain in design, extending just high enough above the roof to conceal the elevator rooms and mechanical spaces. Other portions The original printing plant on 41st Street is similar in style to the tower, though the bays are grouped in sets of three. Each grouping is separated by wide white-brick piers, while the windows in each grouping are subdivided by narrower piers. There is a painted frieze above the first story on both the 41st Street and Second Avenue facades, as well as six loading docks along 41st Street. Like the original building, the vertical bays each contain one window per floor, and there are light-and-dark-red brick spandrels between different floors; however, the piers between each bay have slightly projecting white-brick piers with aluminum sheathing. The facade of the printing-plant addition is designed in the same manner. Lobby The 42nd Street entrance leads to the lobby's rotunda, The ceiling is supported by two closely-spaced marble piers each to the west and east of the rotunda. painted by Daniel Putnam Brinley. Conceived by the Daily News as an educational exhibit, the globe measures in diameter The pit itself contains popular science inscriptions Surrounding the rotunda were originally eighteen glass display cases with charts and maps; the display cases also contained meteorology exhibits by James H. Scarr, a U.S. Weather Bureau meteorologist. After the building opened, the main lobby became so popular among tourists that Hood built a side entrance for Daily News employees. The city names on the floor were modified, one of the hallways was extended to Second Avenue, and the glass showcases were replaced with 19 wall panels. J. Henry Weber designed the wall panels, which contain maps, weather charts and equipment, and clocks from different time zones. while Kilham indicated that Hood had come up with the idea The rotunda's design is reminiscent of Bruno Taut's Glass Pavilion, Other stories When the Daily News occupied the printing plant, the press rooms and circulation departments were on the lower floors, while the editorial departments were on the higher floors. The ground story contained the circulation department, mail rooms, and delivery rooms. Above these were a reel room on the second story, followed by 76 printing presses and a visitors' gallery on the third story. The Museum of the Peaceful Arts originally occupied the fourth story, which was reserved for a future expansion of the newspaper's offices. The fifth story could store of paper, while the floor above was devoted to local advertising. The newspaper's photograph studio and editorial department were on the seventh floor, the latter of which was connected to the composing room by pneumatic tubes. Also on that story were the feature, sports, and television departments, with the promotion department on the western side. The newspaper's executive offices and its accounting, personnel, purchasing, and stock departments were housed on the eighth floor. The main tower contained office lofts separated by movable partitions; some of this space was used by the Daily News and its affiliates. Hood designed Patterson's executive suite, but not the remaining offices on the upper floors. == History ==

Joseph Medill Patterson, a member of a large publishing family, founded the Daily News in 1919 as the United States' first widely published daily tabloid. While the Daily News was not an immediate success, it had become the city's largest newspaper by 1925, with a daily circulation of over a million. The newspaper was originally based at 25 City Hall Place in the Civic Center of Lower Manhattan, moving in 1921 to the nearby 23 Park Place; six years later, it sought to relocate again. In looking for a new location, the Daily News followed the example of The New York Times and New York Herald in moving from Lower to Midtown Manhattan. it was easier to coordinate newspaper distribution from Manhattan than from Queens. Additionally, the site was on the same street as Times Square, where the rival Times headquarters were located. On February 3, 1928, the Daily News bought a tract facing 41st and 42nd streets, between Second and Third avenues, from the Tishman Construction Company for $2.5 million (equivalent to $ million in ). Patterson planned to build a 20-story structure for the Daily News on the site. Less than two weeks later, the newspaper bought another at 41st Street and Second Avenue. This gave the Daily News an L-shaped lot measuring approximately on 41st Street, on 42nd Street, on Second Avenue, and to the west. Patterson hired Hood and Howells as architects. Hood proposed a tower for the Daily News, but Patterson, who did not want a "monument", initially rejected it. To convince Patterson, Hood framed the tower plan as an "efficient" business decision and prepared numerous models for the building, concluding that it would be most efficient to erect a structure of 35 and 40 stories. A plan to use a stone facade was scrapped due to cost, and brick was used instead. Hood carved a plastic model of the building's tapered design, and he drew up plans for a blocky massing with several setbacks. To the west of the building was the Commercial High School, which the New York City Board of Education was planning to demolish. however, only the Daily News section of the alley was built. Nonetheless, because of the alley's presence, Hood was able to incorporate decorations into the western elevation. In addition to the Daily News, the new structure was to include offices for companies affiliated with the Chicago Tribune. International Paper had offered to lend $5 million to the Daily News to fund the building's development, but the loan was ultimately canceled. Construction of the steel frame was finished in August 1929, and the Daily News Building was almost complete by the end of the year. along with the Lincoln Building, Chanin Building, Chrysler Building, and Tudor City. In November 1929, several construction workers and craftsmen received awards for "outstanding work" on the building; at that point, the structure was over 75 percent rented. The Daily News started moving into the building in February 1930. The structure, including the newspaper's new printing presses, had cost $10.7 million (). Daily News use Early years and expansion When the Daily News Building opened, The New Yorker characterized the office space as "actually a factory, done at factory prices", saying that Hood had focused on practicality rather than artistic effect. During the building's first decade, the Daily News rented out space to tenants such as American Locomotive Company subsidiary Alco Products, the Ahrens Publishing Company, the Museum of the Peaceful Arts, a branch of the National City Bank of New York, and United Press International (which moved its headquarters there in 1931). The lobby's research desk was serving 625,000 annual visitors by 1938. The newspaper filed plans in October 1944 for a 24-story annex at Second Avenue and 41st Street. The annex, designed by Harrison, Fouilhoux & Abramovitz (later Harrison & Abramovitz), would have cost $3 million (equivalent to $ million in ) WPIX broadcast from the building's mast until 1951, when transmission facilities were relocated to the Empire State Building's mast. The News Syndicate Company, the subsidiary of Tribune Media that published the Daily News, had acquired all of the lots at the southwest corner of 42nd Street and Second Avenue by August 1950, with plans to build a broadcasting station there. In the late 1950s, as part of a $20 million expansion of the newspaper's facilities (equivalent to $ million in ), Harrison & Abramovitz were hired to design an expansion and renovation of the building, and excavation of the site started later that year. and the facade of the annex was substantially completed by April 1959. Daily News president Francis Marion Flynn also oversaw a renovation of the lobby. The project increased the building's floor area to . 1960s to early 1990s By 1964, a combined heating–cooling system was installed in the building. A 61-week-long restoration of the lobby globe was completed three years later, The Daily News and the International Paper Company were the main occupants of the building by the 1970s, though the latter moved out in 1978. Tribune Media placed the Daily News and the building for sale in 1981 but had trouble finding a buyer. At the time, media and real-estate concerns cited by The New York Times projected that the building might be worth $150–250 million (equivalent to $– million in ), To reduce costs, Daily News publisher Robert M. Hunt had proposed shutting down the printing plant and spending $60 million to upgrade a printing plant in Brooklyn. By then, the Daily News printing operations were split evenly between the Daily News Building and the Brooklyn plant. Though the financier Joe Allbritton tentatively agreed to buy the paper in April 1982, the transaction excluded the building. Tribune Media agreed in November 1982 to sell the building to 220 East Limited Partnership, a limited partnership led by the La Salle Street Fund. The sale was finalized the next month for approximately $90 million. As part of the sale, the Daily News leased back its office space from the new owners, and it renovated the existing of office space. Tribune Media leased the refurbished offices to tenants such as architectural and law firms, doubling the annual rental rates to between . by then, the structure housed only the paper's business offices and newsrooms, while production and distribution had been relocated to New Jersey. Post-Daily News era on the Daily News Building. The TV station had expanded its production facilities in the old building in 1994. At the time, the newspaper occupied across 21 floors at the Daily News Building, since the newspaper no longer needed to occupy so much space due to declining circulation. was to remain in place. at which point the building had an occupancy rate of more than 80 percent, despite the departure of the Daily News. The developer Steve Witkoff of Stellar Management, along with JAG Capital, agreed that September to buy the building for $110–115 million. To obtain a $140 million mortgage loan, the new owners leased out most of the vacant space, and the Omnicom Group moved in as the primary tenant in 1997. The building was again being placed for sale by 2001, and the building's owners had narrowed the bids down to three finalists by that May. finalizing its purchase in 2002 for $265 million. By then, the building was fully occupied, with tenants such as the Tribune affiliates, Omnicom, Verizon Communications, Value Line, Neuberger Berman, and the United Nations Population Fund. and the developer Jacob Chetrit agreed to pay $815 million for the building that October. The sale was canceled in March 2020 after Deutsche Bank withdrew its financing as a result of economic uncertainty during the COVID-19 pandemic. SL Green sued Chetrit to obtain the $35 million deposit that he had paid, though this dispute was later settled. When SL Green refinanced the building with a $510 million mortgage that June, the structure had nearly 60 tenants and was almost fully leased. == Tenants ==

, the building's mass media tenants include the former Daily News TV broadcast subsidiary WPIX, as well as NewsNation, which opened their New York bureau there in 2023. Other major tenants include the Visiting Nurse Service of New York on , the organization UN Women on , and the nonprofit Young Adult Institute on . The United Nations Development Programme and the consulate general of Brazil in New York City also have offices in the structure. == Impact ==

Reception Contemporary Architectural critics had mixed opinions of the design. The architect Frank Scarlett, having viewed a model of the building, considered it to have deviated from the eclectic style that had been popular until the early 20th century. The New Yorker, profiling Hood in 1931, said that the Daily News Building was "a distinctly untraditional building" and that Hood's design had been "daringly successful". and the architect Kenneth MacKenzie Murchison wrote of the facade: "'Stripes' is Mr. Hood's middle name. He can't get away from them." The architectural historian Henry-Russell Hitchcock and the architect Philip Johnson said in 1932 that the setbacks were "brilliantly handled in a way that does not produce a heavy pyramidal mass". The writer Randolph Williams Sexton stated that "the vertical movement [of the building] is unbroken throughout", After Hood's death in 1934, observers and the media described the Daily News Building as functionalist in nature. for example, The New York Times said that the building's design made him "practically a complete functionalist", while the contemporary modernist architect Harvey Wiley Corbett said in Architectural Forum that the building was a "right about-face [...] from the former eclectic approach". Architectural Forum, the next year, lauded the utilitarian nature of the building's exterior and praised the lobby as "romantic and dramatic". Some commentary regarded the building as architecturally lacking. For instance, Hitchcock and Johnson perceived the "crisp square termination" of the roof as deceptive because it concealed the mechanical equipment and water tanks there, Daily News officials referred to the structure as one of Hood's "triumphs", though most of the paper's praise for the building was directed toward the lobby. while another Daily News article praised the lobby for its state-of-the-art exhibit. Hood himself had been dismissive of the building's "architectural beauty" and "composition", instead focusing on its "effect". Retrospective Decades after the building was completed, reviewers compared it with more contemporary architectural works. One guidebook from 1952 stated that the building had an "asymmetrical, almost picturesque" shape, and another book from 1967 described the tower as "one of the best examples" of a slab-shaped skyscraper. Further reviews in the late 20th century described the building as a deviation from popular architectural styles of the time, and as a modern skyscraper that was easily distinguishable from "mediocre metal-and-glass neighbors". Robert A. M. Stern and the coauthors of his 1987 book New York 1930 wrote that Hood's design was adapted from the massing of Ralph Thomas Walker's Western Union Building, saying the Daily News Building's shape "suggested the possibilities of a tall building as a continuous extrusion". George Everard Kidder Smith described the building in 1996 as "all Hood and all very fresh", praising the design of the setbacks. In the early 2000s, David W. Dunlap of the rival New York Times called the structure "one of America's great newspaper buildings", as compared with the Times then-headquarters at 229 West 43rd Street, which he considered "a three-dimensional understatement". Justin Davidson of New York magazine wrote in 2017 that Hood had "produced an artistic creation, a jazzy concoction of syncopated setbacks and white-brick stripes shooting toward the sky. In a city of flat façades, this was a sculpture to be appreciated from all sides." Landmark designations The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) hosted hearings in 1966 to determine whether the Daily News Building should be designated as a city landmark. However, the LPC did not designate the exterior as a New York City landmark until 1981; in granting the exterior landmark status, the LPC called the tower "one of the city's major Art Deco presences". and some of the first-floor interior spaces became a city landmark nine years later. Harrison and Abramowitz's additions are excluded from the National Historic Landmark and New York City landmark designations. Smithsonian magazine wrote that Ferriss's drawing depicted the structure as "a streamlined vertical monument" and that the sketch had had such a powerful effect because "everything Ferriss drew looked like it belonged in a comic book". The shape helped inspire the Superman comic book franchise's fictional Daily Planet headquarters. which was being shot there when the 1977 New York City blackout began on July 13–14. According to the movie's screenwriter Tom Mankiewicz, the edifice was chosen as a filming location because the lobby's globe resembled the Daily Planet logo. == See also ==