The Little Singer Building: Terracotta and Flamboyant Iron
Why is it significant?
Tilt your head back and admire the slender twelve-story facade rising above the west side of Broadway at number 561. Completed in 1904 and designed by celebrated architect Ernest Flagg, this architectural jewel is affectionately known as the Little Singer Building.
Key Facts
| Place | The Little Singer Building: Terracotta and Flamboyant Iron |
|---|---|
| Address | 561 Broadway, New York, NY 10012, USA |
| Geo Coordinates | 40.72410, -73.99820 |
| Part of Walk | New York: SoHo Cast-Iron Architecture and Artist Loft Galleries |
| Generated | Generated |
Tilt your head back and admire the slender twelve-story facade rising above the west side of Broadway at number 561. Completed in 1904 and designed by celebrated architect Ernest Flagg, this architectural jewel is affectionately known as the Little Singer Building. It was constructed as corporate offices and a luxury showroom for the Singer Sewing Machine Company, while Flagg simultaneously designed the forty-seven-story Singer Tower downtown, which briefly held the crown of world's tallest building.
Flagg was an outspoken critic of dark, light-choking skyscrapers, championing buildings that maximized natural illumination and ventilation. Look closely at the facade: massive two-story recessed archways are framed by dark green wrought-iron tracery and delicate floral balconies that resemble Parisian Art Nouveau ironwork. The iron framework is interlaced with vibrant crimson brick and glazed polychromatic terra-cotta panels, creating a visual rhythm of supreme lightness and grace. Flagg's inventive use of slender structural piers and extensive glass bays anticipated the glass curtain walls that would define mid-century corporate towers, proving that industrial practicality could harmonize with sublime decorative elegance.
Flagg's innovative design was a direct precursor to modern curtain-wall skyscrapers. Instead of relying on thick load-bearing stone walls, Flagg used a lightweight steel and iron skeleton that allowed enormous glass window bays to illuminate the sewing machine showrooms. Inside, shoppers tested the latest electric sewing machines, which had revolutionized the international garment trade and empowered millions of home seamstresses across the globe.
Look at the decorative terra-cotta spandrels between the upper windows, where the stylized letter S for Singer is gracefully entwined with needles and floral blossoms. Architectural historians continue to study Flagg's innovative design as an early masterpiece of modern skyscraper engineering.
Turn east down Prince Street to Lafayette Street, where the gilded satirical figure of Puck welcomes us to a monumental printing palace.