The headquarters of the Singer Manufacturing Company, was at the northwestern corner of Liberty Street and Broadway in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan.

Frederick Gilbert Bourne, leader of the Singer Company, commissioned the building, which architect Ernest Flagg designed in multiple phases from 1897 to 1908.

The Singer Building used a steel frame, though load-bearing walls initially supported the original structure before modification.

When completed, the 41-story building had a marble-clad entrance lobby, 16 elevators, 410,000 square feet (38,000 m2) of office space, and an observation deck.

[4][24] The tower was set back 30 feet (9.1 m) behind the base's frontage on Broadway,[4][6] and it filled only one-sixth of the total lot area.

Rose Company for the brick; Martin P. Lodge for the bluestone; J. J. Spurr & Sons for the limestone; and New Jersey Terra Cotta for the terracotta.

[19] The use of iron balconies, as well as the large amount of glass in the facade, was inspired by the design of the Little Singer Building at 561 Broadway, built in 1904.

[52] The entire exterior was lit at night by 1,600 incandescent lamps and thirty 18-inch (460 mm) projectors,[53] which were visible at distances of up to 20 miles (32 km).

The system, devised in house by Flagg's office, was more than twice as expensive as a conventional foundation would have cost for a building of the Singer Tower's size.

[40] The total weight of the Singer Building, including the tower addition, was carried by 54 steel columns atop the concrete foundation piers.

[75] The Singer Building was intended to be fireproof, and the tower section used mostly concrete floors, with wood used in some doors, windows, railings and decorative elements.

There was also a refrigeration plant with two pumps and a small freezing system capable of producing 500 to 1,000 pounds (230 to 450 kg) of ice daily.

[85] Initially, the Bourne and original Singer buildings had boilers aggregating 546 horsepower (407 kW) and power generators with a capacity of 387.5 kilowatts (519.6 hp).

[86] With the 1906–1908 addition, boilers aggregating 1,925 horsepower (1,435 kW) were installed,[52][85] and generators with a capacity of 1,400 kilowatts (1,900 hp) were added, replacing the old ones.

[19] There were large bronze medallions atop each pier, depicting either the Singer Company's monogram or a needle, thread, and bobbin.

[111][112] The Singer Manufacturing Company was also involved in real estate during the latter half of the 19th century, Clark commissioning Henry Janeway Hardenbergh to design the Dakota and other New York City residential buildings in the 1880s.

[4][119] In December 1897, before the new Singer headquarters was completed, Bourne bought three five-story structures for the company at 85–89 Liberty Street, on a plot measuring 74.8 by 99.8 feet (22.8 by 30.4 m).

[125] Boiler manufacturers Babcock & Wilcox were long-term tenants, occupying the Singer Building for more than forty years from the beginning of the 20th century.

[4] However, the Singer Manufacturing Company did not reveal specific details until February 1906, when it announced that it would build a 594-foot (181 m) tower, the world's tallest.

[16][135] A timber platform, measuring 30 feet (9.1 m) wide and descending from Broadway to the excavation site, was constructed so that workers could receive materials and extract soil more efficiently.

[40][145] Several columns were erected at the old building's front and rear elevations, extending from the basement to the 11th floor to support the raised roof.

[14] Surpassing Philadelphia City Hall in height, the Singer Building remained the tallest in the world for a year after its tower's completion.

Even so, the construction of the World Trade Center nearby in the mid-1960s caused real-estate values in Lower Manhattan to increase dramatically.

[169][170] Sam Roberts later wrote in The New York Times that the Singer Building had been one of the city's notable structures that "weren't considered worth preserving".

[171] Demolition had commenced by September 1967,[172] despite protests by Architectural Forum magazine and other preservationists, who suggested incorporating the lobby into the U.S. Steel Building.

[14] The last piece of scrap had been carted away in early 1969, when the Daily News observed: "The Singer fell victim to a malady called progress.

[179] In the 21st century, the Singer Building became a subject of the unfounded Tartaria conspiracy theory, which claimed that the skyscraper was evidence of a long-lost civilization.

[91] New York Times architectural critic Christopher Gray said in 2005 that the Singer Building's tower resembled "a bulbous mansard and giant lantern".

[5] Landau and Condit described the building as "an aesthetic triumph that enriched the city by demonstrating the sculptural possibilities of the steel-framed skyscraper".

[25] Ada Louise Huxtable said, "The master never produced a more impressive ruin than the Singer Building under demolition.