Western Union Telegraph Building

File:Sanborn Manhattan V. 1 Plate 019 publ. 1905.jpg

The Western Union Building was at the northwestern corner of Broadway and Dey Street in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. The building originally occupied {{Convert|75|ft||abbr=}} along Broadway to the east and {{Convert|150|ft||abbr=}} along Dey Street to the south.{{harvnb|Stern|Mellins|Fishman|1999|ps=.|p=396}}{{harvnb|Landau|Condit|1996|ps=.|p=408}}{{cite news|date=July 18, 1874|title=The New Telegraph Building: How the Floors Are to Be Utilized|page=2|work=New-York Tribune|url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/572555261|url-access=subscription|access-date=January 31, 2021|id={{ProQuest|572555261}}|archive-date=November 10, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211110172739/https://www.proquest.com/docview/572555261|url-status=live}} The rear boundary of the site, on the west, was slightly wider at about {{Convert|78|ft|0|abbr=}}.{{harvnb|Landau|Condit|1996|p=408}}; {{harvnb|Reid|1879|p=568|ps=.}} The site initially took up five land lots in total: three on Broadway, each measuring {{Convert|25|by|100|ft|abbr=}}, and two on Dey Street, each measuring {{Convert|25|by|78|ft|abbr=}}.{{harvnb|Reid|1879|p=568}}; {{harvnb|Western Union|1875|ps=.|p=49}} Dey Street sloped downward away from Broadway, so that while the basement was half a level below Broadway, it was at the same level as Dey Street at the western end of the site. When the Western Union Building was renovated in 1890, an additional lot on Dey Street was acquired for the expansion, measuring {{Convert|25|by|100|ft|abbr=}}.{{Cite news|last=|first=|date=July 23, 1890|title=The New Building Plans: What the New Western Union Will Be Like. The Appearance of the Reconstructed Edifice Will Be Wholly Different From That of the Old.|language=en-US|page=8|work=The New York Times|url=http://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1890/07/23/103253916.pdf|url-status=live|access-date=January 31, 2021|issn=0362-4331|archive-date=July 18, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220718012209/https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1890/07/23/103253916.pdf}}

File:Western Union Telegraph Building lithograph.jpg and Broadway]]

The Western Union Building was originally designed by architect George B. Post and opened as the headquarters of Western Union in 1875.{{harvnb|ps=.|Balmori|1987|page=348}}{{harvnb|Western Union|1875|ps=.|p=49}} The Western Union Building was designed in the Neo-Grec style with Beaux-Arts influences,{{harvnb|Balmori|1987|ps=.|p=354}}{{harvnb|Landau|Condit|1996|ps=.|p=82}} although at the time of its construction, the style was characterized as French Renaissance. Numerous contractors provided material for the original building.{{efn|These included:

• James B. Smith & Prodgers Company, masonry and foundation
• J. B. & J. M. Cornell, iron
• J. G. Batterson and Andrews, Ordway & Green, granite
• N. Y. & L.I. Coignet & Co., concrete floors
• Anderson, Merchant & Co., encaustic tiling
• Joseph Cartessier, embossed glass
• Philip Herman, carpentry
• Locke & Monroe, plumbing and gas
• Otis Brothers, elevators

}} After the structure was severely damaged in an 1890 fire, it was rebuilt in 1892 to designs by Henry Janeway Hardenbergh.{{cite web|date=October 1, 1991|title=Western Union Building|url=http://s-media.nyc.gov/agencies/lpc/lp/1949.pdf|access-date=March 13, 2020|publisher=New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission|page=2|archive-date=July 31, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200731151007/http://s-media.nyc.gov/agencies/lpc/lp/1949.pdf|url-status=live}}

The building was ten stories tall (including a half-story attic), rising to a height of {{convert|230|ft}} at the tip of its clock tower.{{harvnb|Landau|Condit|1996|pp=78–80}}; {{harvnb|Stern|Mellins|Fishman|1999|pp=396, 398}}; {{harvnb|Western Union|1875|ps=.|p=49}}{{harvnb|ps=.|Weisman|1953|p=18}}{{efn|According to The Aldine magazine, the tip was {{convert|226|ft}} above the street. By this calculation, the main roof would have been {{convert|174|ft}} tall, and the flagpole atop the clock tower would have been {{convert|289|ft}} tall.}} The height of the outer walls, below the mansard roof, was {{Convert|140|ft||abbr=}}.{{harvnb|Reid|1879|p=569}}; {{harvnb|Western Union|1875|ps=.|p=49}}{{cite news|date=February 1, 1875|title=Local Miscellany: the New Telegraphic Heart of America|page=12|work=New-York Tribune|url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/572607815|url-access=subscription|access-date=January 31, 2021|id={{ProQuest|572607815}}|archive-date=November 10, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211110172736/https://www.proquest.com/docview/572607815|url-status=live}} The ground story was considered a fully raised basement, and the floor numbering started above the ground story.{{harvnb|Reid|1879|pp=570–573}}; {{harvnb|Stern|Mellins|Fishman|1999|p=398}}; {{harvnb|Western Union|1875|ps=.|pp=49–51}}{{efn|The Western Union Building was described using European floor numbering; i.e. the first story is directly above the ground floor. Architectural writers Sarah Landau and Carl Condit used U.S. floor numbering and counted the ground story as a first floor but excluding the attic. Architectural writer Winston Weisman counted both the ground story and the attic, but treated the attic as half a floor.}} The clock tower made the Western Union Building one of the tallest structures in New York City, after Trinity Church, the New York Tribune Building, and the towers of the Brooklyn Bridge.{{harvnb|Landau|Condit|1996|p=80}}; {{harvnb|Stern|Mellins|Fishman|1999|ps=.|p=398}} At the time of the Western Union Building's completion, the city's tallest buildings were typically not taller than six stories, and church spires only rose to nine stories. This was attributed to the fact that the elevator was still a relatively new technology.{{harvnb|Weisman|1972|ps=.|p=181}}

The articulation originally consisted of three horizontal sections similar to the components of a column (namely a base, shaft, and capital). The granite blocks used in the structure came from Quincy, Massachusetts, and Richmond, Virginia, while the brick came from Baltimore. Above the base, the spandrels between the windows on each floor were recessed between the vertical piers, which separated the facades into bays. On the Broadway facade, the second and fifth piers from south were designed to be wider, thereby supporting the clock tower and mansard roof above. The ornamentation of the Western Union Building was generally not as prominent as its main structural features.{{harvnb|Weisman|1972|ps=.|p=182}}

The base of the Western Union Building, comprising the lowest three stories, was clad with rusticated blocks of granite.{{harvnb|Landau|Condit|1996|ps=|p=81}}; {{harvnb|Stern|Mellins|Fishman|1999|ps=.|p=398}} The main entrance was through a flight of stairs at the center of the Broadway facade, although there was also a direct entrance to the basement at the western end of the Dey Street facade.{{harvnb|Stern|Mellins|Fishman|1999|p=398}}; {{harvnb|Western Union|1875|ps=.|p=49}} Two pairs of Quincy granite columns flanked the main entrance. A stone balcony above the main entrance carried bronze sculptures of Samuel Morse and Benjamin Franklin.{{harvnb|Landau|Condit|1996|p=81}}; {{harvnb|Western Union|1875|ps=.|p=49}} The bronze sculptures may have been created by Launt Thompson, whom Post had recommended to Western Union. Quincy granite was also used for the pilasters that ran around the base.{{harvnb|Landau|Condit|1996|ps=.|p=81}}

The walls on the third through sixth floors consisted of alternating horizontal strips of Baltimore brick and Richmond granite.{{harvnb|Reid|1879|ps=.|p=569}} The facade of the shaft was visually distinct from that of the base, with materials that were less heavy, less expensive, and more uniform in pattern. The sixth story had low windows and a balcony with iron railings ran above it.{{harvnb|Landau|Condit|1996|pp=80–81}}; {{harvnb|Stern|Mellins|Fishman|1999|ps=.|p=398}} The exterior walls of the seventh floor, at the level of the balcony, were designed to let light into that floor and reduce the load on the walls in the floors below.{{harvnb|Landau|Condit|1996|ps=.|pp=80–81}}

The original roof was a three-story mansard roof, which contained the eighth through tenth stories.{{harvnb|Reid|1879|p=569}}; {{harvnb|Stern|Mellins|Fishman|1999|ps=.|p=398}} The mansard roof was constructed by J. B. and J. M. Cornell.{{harvnb|Landau|Condit|1996|p=408}}; {{harvnb|Western Union|1875|ps=.|p=49}} The building was topped by a clock tower, which was one of the tallest structures in the city at its completion.{{harvnb|Landau|Condit|1996|p=78}}; {{harvnb|ps=.|Weisman|1953|p=13}} The centers of the clock faces were {{convert|184|ft}} above street level. Beginning in 1877, a time ball was dropped from the top of the building at exactly noon, triggered by a telegraph from the National Observatory in Washington, D.C.{{harvnb|Landau|Condit|1996|p=80}}; {{harvnb|Reid|1879|p=573|ps=.}}{{cite news|date=February 13, 1882|title=Telegraph Time Service: How City Clocks Are Regulated the Office on the Service in the Western Union Building—the Standard Clock—Question of International Time|page=2|work=New-York Tribune|url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/572953111|url-access=subscription|access-date=January 31, 2021|id={{ProQuest|572953111}}|archive-date=November 10, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211110172743/https://www.proquest.com/docview/572953111|url-status=live}} According to a Western Union publicity director, the clock and time ball were used by "people on ships, in New Jersey, on Long Island and far north on Manhattan Island".{{harvnb|Landau|Condit|1996|ps=.|p=80}} The time-ball system, invented by George May Phelps, was used as the initial reference for standard railway time starting in 1883;{{Cite web|title=George M. Phelps: Master Telegraph Instrument Maker and Inventor|url=http://www.telegraph-history.org/george-m-phelps/|access-date=January 30, 2021|website=www.telegraph-history.org|archive-date=December 31, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161231075408/http://www.telegraph-history.org/george-m-phelps/|url-status=live}}{{Cite news|last=|first=|date=November 19, 1883|title=Turning Back the Hands; a Quiet Change to the Standard Time. Stopping the Pendulums in the City Clocks and in the Railroad Stations—the Movement Started|language=en-US|page=5|work=The New York Times|url=http://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1883/11/19/106262262.pdf|url-status=live|access-date=January 31, 2021|issn=0362-4331|archive-date=July 18, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220718012211/https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1883/11/19/106262262.pdf}} it also directly inspired One Times Square's New Year's Eve "ball drop", an annual event since 1907.{{cite news|title=What's Your Problem?|newspaper=Newsday (Nassau Edition)|date=December 30, 1965|page=48|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/105829362/newsday-nassau-edition/|access-date=July 18, 2022}}

File:(King1893NYC) pg213 BROADWAY AND DEY STREET. SHOWING MERCANTILE NATIONAL BANK, WESTERN UNION TELEGRAPH BUILDING, AND THE MAIL AND EXPRESS.jpg

The sixth and seventh stories and the mansard roof burned in 1890. They were replaced with a four-story, flat-roofed expansion.{{harvnb|Landau|Condit|1996|ps=.|p=83}} The reconstructed upper floors were designed in a distinct style compared to the lowest five floors and the ground story.{{cite magazine|date=April 25, 1891|title=The Reconstructed Western Union Building|url=https://rerecord.library.columbia.edu/document.php?vol=ldpd_7031148_007&page=ldpd_7031148_007_00000757&no=8|journal=The Real Estate Record: Real Estate Record and Builders' Guide|volume=47|pages=647|via=columbia.edu|number=1206|access-date=July 18, 2022|archive-date=February 7, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210207173458/https://rerecord.library.columbia.edu/document.php?vol=ldpd_7031148_007&page=ldpd_7031148_007_00000757&no=8|url-status=live}} Unlike at the base and the shaft, the upper floors lacked any granite bands. There were semicircular arched windows above the sixth through eighth floors and smaller semicircular arched windows at the ninth floor. The time ball was placed in a cage atop the expansion, about {{Convert|300|ft||abbr=}} above street level.{{Cite news|date=November 19, 1911|title=Old Western Union Building Soon To Go; Lower Broadway Landmark Will Be Replaced by a 26-Story Structure|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1911/11/19/archives/old-western-union-building-soon-to-go-lower-broadway-landmark-will.html|access-date=February 9, 2020|issn=0362-4331|archive-date=November 10, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211110164203/https://www.nytimes.com/1911/11/19/archives/old-western-union-building-soon-to-go-lower-broadway-landmark-will.html|url-status=live}}

The superstructure was mainly made of metal. The cylindrical columns, made of cast iron, supported floor beams that were {{Convert|10|in||abbr=}} deep. The building was advertised as fireproof, using only a minimal amount of wood.{{cite magazine|date=September 7, 1883|title=Sky Building in New York|url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015080304408&view=1up&seq=420|journal=The Building News|volume=45|pages=363–364|access-date=July 18, 2022|archive-date=July 5, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200705101501/https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015080304408&view=1up&seq=420|url-status=live}} However, similar structures with iron columns had collapsed during the Great Chicago Fire in 1871, either because of extreme heat or when they were suddenly chilled by water from fire hoses. Nonetheless, the steel superstructure was left exposed in the Western Union Building and largely survived the 1890 fire. The mansard roof was constructed of iron beams, supported only along the outer walls, thereby reducing the number of columns needed for the seventh floor. The iron-truss beams that supported the top of the mansard roof were {{Convert|65|ft||abbr=}} long.

The floors consisted of brick arches between {{Convert|10|in||abbr=|adj=on}} iron beams.{{harvnb|Landau|Condit|1996|p=80}}; {{harvnb|Reid|1879|p=569}}; {{harvnb|Western Union|1875|ps=.|p=49}} The brick-arched floors were covered with Beton Coignet artificial stone tile, surrounded by a border of encaustic tile. The hallways were covered entirely in encaustic tiles. The Western Union Building also contained plaster-block wall partitions and plastered ceilings.

The Western Union Building served as a corporate headquarters, with clerical and operational departments. There were two basement levels. The first basement level contained the packing room of the supply department, where goods were assorted and items were packed, while the second basement contained the engine room.{{harvnb|Reid|1879|pp=569–570}}; {{harvnb|Western Union|1875|ps=.|pp=49–50}} The ground story contained numerous departments. The treasurer's office had a separate entrance from Broadway and had a vault beneath the main entrance steps. Just inside the main door was a public passageway {{Convert|80|ft||abbr=}} long and {{Convert|19|ft||abbr=}} wide, which ran west-east parallel to Dey Street. On one side of the hall was a continuous mahogany counter for Western Union's cable, general message, city, and delivery departments. The hall connected to the elevator lobby and a ladies' waiting room. At the rear, or western, end of the ground story was the supply department and the office of the keeper of stores. The floor surface of the ground story was laid with encaustic tile in mosaic.{{harvnb|Reid|1879|p=570}}; {{harvnb|Western Union|1875|ps=.|p=50}} The first and second floors were originally used as rental floors, while the third through fifth floors contained various offices.{{harvnb|Landau|Condit|1996|pp=83–84}}; {{harvnb|Reid|1879|pp=570–571|ps=.}}

On the original sixth floor was the battery room, which contained the inbound and outbound telegraph wires and thousands of cells that generated power for the telegraphs.{{efn|According to {{harvnb|Reid|1879|p=571}}, the batteries had an average of 15,000 cells. According to {{harvnb|Western Union|1875|p=50}}, there were 7,000 cells in use when the building opened, but there was capacity for up to 16,800 cells.}} This story had a ceiling of {{Convert|9|ft||abbr=}} and was lit by low windows. Wires ran into the battery room from the balcony surrounding the seventh floor.{{harvnb|Landau|Condit|1996|pp=80–81}}; {{harvnb|Western Union|1875|ps=.|p=50}} There were wardrobe rooms for operators on the sixth floor as well.{{harvnb|Reid|1879|p=571}}; {{harvnb|Western Union|1875|ps=.|p=50}} The battery room had been moved to the second basement prior to the 1890 fire.

The original seventh floor, which contained the telegraph operating room, had dimensions of {{Convert|145|by|70|ft|abbr=}} and a ceiling of {{Convert|23|ft||abbr=}}.{{harvnb|Reid|1879|p=569}}; {{harvnb|Western Union|1875|ps=.|p=50}} The seventh floor was largely free of obstructions, except for four iron columns on its eastern end, which supported the clock tower.{{harvnb|Landau|Condit|1996|p=80}}; {{harvnb|Reid|1879|p=569}}; {{harvnb|Stern|Mellins|Fishman|1999|p=398}}; {{harvnb|Western Union|1875|ps=.|p=49}} It was also illuminated well, with more than forty windows on all sides in addition to gas lamps.{{harvnb|Reid|1879|p=571}}; {{harvnb|Western Union|1875|ps=.|p=51}} There was a switchboard on the room's northern side, measuring {{Convert|26|ft||abbr=}} long, {{Convert|5.5|ft||abbr=}} wide,{{harvnb|Stern|Mellins|Fishman|1999|p=398}}; {{harvnb|Western Union|1875|ps=.|p=51}} which carried three hundred telegraph wires in total.{{harvnb|Western Union|1875|ps=.|p=51}} There were more than eighty mahogany operators' tables, each divided into four parts by glass partitions. The different genders worked in a separate part of the room and were separated by a partition measuring {{Convert|8|ft||abbr=}} tall.{{harvnb|Stern|Mellins|Fishman|1999|p=398}}; {{harvnb|Western Union|1875|ps=.|p=50}} The seventh-floor operating room had a ceiling fresco that depicted the sky.{{harvnb|Landau|Condit|1996|p=81}}; {{harvnb|Western Union|1875|ps=.|p=50}}

The original eighth through tenth stories were used as employee rooms and storerooms.{{harvnb|Landau|Condit|1996|p=80}}; {{harvnb|Reid|1879|pp=572–573}}; {{harvnb|Stern|Mellins|Fishman|1999|p=398}}; {{harvnb|Western Union|1875|ps=.|p=51}} The eighth floor originally contained the bookkeeping department,{{harvnb|Reid|1879|p=572}}; {{harvnb|Western Union|1875|ps=.|p=51}} operators' lunchrooms,{{harvnb|Landau|Condit|1996|p=80}}; {{harvnb|Reid|1879|p=572}}; {{harvnb|Western Union|1875|ps=.|p=51}} the offices of the New York Associated Press,{{harvnb|Reid|1879|pp=572–573}}; {{harvnb|Stern|Mellins|Fishman|1999|p=398}}; {{harvnb|Western Union|1875|ps=.|p=51}} and a water tank with a capacity of {{Convert|5000|gal||abbr=|sp=us}}. On the ninth floor were the kitchen, washing and drying rooms, refrigerators, and employee dining rooms. The tenth floor contained a message storeroom and another water tank.{{harvnb|Reid|1879|p=573}}; {{harvnb|Stern|Mellins|Fishman|1999|p=398}}; {{harvnb|Western Union|1875|ps=.|p=51}} A flight of stairs ran from the tenth floor to the clock tower.{{harvnb|Reid|1879|ps=.|p=573}}

When the original sixth through tenth stories were destroyed in 1890, they were replaced with four flat-roofed stories. The new sixth floor was turned into offices, while the operating rooms were split between the new seventh and eighth stories. The replacement operating rooms measured {{Convert|75|by|200|ft|abbr=}} and were lit by thirty-six large windows. The seventh story had a commercial news department as well. There were ten switchboards across the operating rooms.{{cite news|date=January 21, 1892|title=A Triumph in Mechanism: the Equipment of the Western Union's New Quarters|page=9|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/1016020692|url-access=subscription|access-date=January 31, 2021|issn=0362-4331|id={{ProQuest|1016020692}}|archive-date=November 10, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211110164203/https://www.proquest.com/docview/1016020692|url-status=live}} The new ninth story became a restaurant, kitchen, and servants' rooms.

In the cellar were six steam tubular boilers of {{Convert|40|hp||abbr=}} each; three were used to heat the building, while the other three were used to power the machinery, including the elevators, pneumatic tubes, and hoisters. On this floor were 18 wells, which were each sunk {{Convert|50|ft||abbr=}} deep to a water stratum below the underlying layer of hardpan. The wells could extract a combined {{Convert|300|gal||abbr=|sp=us}} of water per minute. Another pump could send up to {{Convert|1000|gal||abbr=|sp=us}} per minute to water tanks in the upper stories. The wells were placed because Post or Western Union assumed the Croton Aqueduct would not provide enough water in case of a fire.

The Western Union Building was built with three passenger elevators and one freight lift. The passenger elevators ran between the ground-level lobby and the fifth floor, while the smaller freight lift was powered by steam and extended between the cellar and the tenth floor. Two of the passenger elevators, for public use, were powered by steam and had a capacity of eighteen passengers each. The third passenger elevator, exclusively for Western Union employees, could fit fourteen passengers and was originally hydraulically powered.{{harvnb|Landau|Condit|1996|p=81}}; {{harvnb|Stern|Mellins|Fishman|1999|p=398}}; {{harvnb|Western Union|1875|ps=.|p=51}} The hydraulic employee elevator was hard for the elevator operator to control, so in 1891, it was replaced with a steam elevator. A set of iron stairs also connected all floors.{{harvnb|Reid|1879|p=573}}; {{harvnb|Western Union|1875|ps=.|p=51}} The clock tower could be accessed by a flight of stairs.

A pneumatic tube system delivered messages between the operating room and the ground-floor departments. The pneumatic tubes from the operating room also connected to the Corn Exchange, the Produce Exchange, and an auxiliary Western Union office on Pearl Street.{{harvnb|Reid|1879|ps=.|p=571}}

Western Union had been founded in 1851 as the New York and Mississippi Valley Printing Telegraph Company. It was renamed the Western Union Telegraph Company in 1856.{{cite book|last=Huurdeman|first=A.A.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SnjGRDVIUL4C&pg=PA98|title=The Worldwide History of Telecommunications|publisher=Wiley|year=2003|isbn=978-0-471-20505-0|series=Wiley – IEEE|page=98|access-date=July 18, 2022|archive-date=November 10, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211110164158/https://books.google.com/books?id=SnjGRDVIUL4C&pg=PA98|url-status=live}}{{harvnb|Brewer|1901|ps=.|p=22}} After it acquired several major competitors in the 1860s, Western Union became a major provider of transcontinental and transoceanic telegraph services in the late 19th century.{{harvnb|Brewer|1901|ps=.|p=28}}{{harvnb|Balmori|1987|ps=.|p=344}} The company relocated to New York City from Rochester, New York, in 1866.{{harvnb|Landau|Condit|1996|ps=.|p=78}} Its first New York City headquarters was at 145 Broadway, slightly south of the Western Union Building's site.

File:Western_Union_Telegrapph_Co.'s_Building,_New_York_City,_from_Robert_N._Dennis_collection_of_stereoscopic_views.jpg is at right]]

Western Union soon outgrew its headquarters at 145 Broadway,{{Cite news|last=|first=|date=March 8, 1872|title=A New Business Centre|language=en-US|page=8|work=The New York Times|url=http://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1872/03/08/79014407.pdf|url-status=live|access-date=January 30, 2021|issn=0362-4331|archive-date=July 18, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220718012210/https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1872/03/08/79014407.pdf}} and the company decided to search for a new headquarters under the leadership of president William Orton and main stockholder Cornelius Vanderbilt II.{{harvnb|Stern|Mellins|Fishman|1999|ps=.|pp=396, 398}} At first, the company attempted to purchase the Astor House, across from the City Hall Post Office and Courthouse further north, although the acquisition was unsuccessful. By March 1872, Western Union had purchased land at the northwest corner of Broadway and Dey Street, paying $840,000 to Thomas W. Evans, dentist for French emperor Napoleon III.{{Cite news|date=March 8, 1872|title=The Real Estate Market|pages=5|work=New York Daily Herald|via=newspapers.com {{open access}}|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/68860134/the-real-estate-market/|access-date=January 29, 2021|archive-date=February 5, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210205020402/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/68860134/the-real-estate-market/|url-status=live}}{{Cite news|date=March 28, 1872|title=Napoleon's Finances|pages=2|work=Buffalo Morning Express and Illustrated Buffalo Express|via=newspapers.com {{open access}}|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/68862787/napoleons-finances/|access-date=January 30, 2021|archive-date=February 3, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210203172602/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/68862787/napoleons-finances/|url-status=live}} The company wanted to build a ten-story structure in which it would occupy three of the floors. According to architectural writer Robert A. M. Stern, the structure would also serve as "a visible representation of Western Union's virtual hegemony in its field and of the solidity of its leadership". The company's directors voted in April 1872 to issue $1.5 million in bonds for the building's construction.{{Cite news|date=April 4, 1872|title=A New Building for the Telegraph Company|pages=4|work=Buffalo Morning Express and Illustrated Buffalo Express|via=newspapers.com {{open access}}|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/68866084/a-new-building-for-the-telegraph-company/|access-date=January 30, 2021|archive-date=November 10, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211110164201/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/68866084/a-new-building-for-the-telegraph-company/|url-status=live}}

Western Union held an architectural design competition for the building.{{harvnb|Landau|Condit|1996|p=78}}; {{harvnb|Stern|Mellins|Fishman|1999|ps=.|p=396}} The competition, announced in March 1872, was only open to selected invited architects who submitted plans without their names attached. After the initial sketches were submitted, Western Union requested in-depth designs from three finalists.{{harvnb|Balmori|1987|p=347}}; {{harvnb|Stern|Mellins|Fishman|1999|ps=.|p=398}} Western Union did not commit to paying an appropriate architects' fee to the winning architect, so three of the invited architects declined to participate.{{harvnb|Stern|Mellins|Fishman|1999|ps=.|p=398}}{{efn|Griffith Thomas, Leopold Eidlitz, and Robert Griffith Hatfield refused to enter the competition as a result of the lack of commitment to compensation. The architects who participated but failed to receive the commission were Arthur Gilman, George Hathorne, Richard Morris Hunt, Napoleon LeBrun, and Russell Sturgis.{{harvnb|Landau|Condit|1996|p=408}}; {{harvnb|Stern|Mellins|Fishman|1999|ps=.|p=398}}}} George Post had won the competition by July,{{harvnb|Balmori|1987|p=347}}; {{harvnb|ps=.|Landau|Condit|1996|p=78}}{{harvnb|Balmori|1987|ps=.|p=353}} but not before a dispute arose with Western Union over compensation.{{harvnb|Balmori|1987|pp=347–348}}; {{harvnb|Stern|Mellins|Fishman|1999|ps=.|p=398}} The compensation was a key concern for Post, who struggled to pay the high rent at his office in the Equitable Life Building. By August 8, shortly after Post was selected as the architect, work had started on the foundations.

Correspondence between Post and Orton indicated that plans for the substructure had been fully prepared by the end of August 1872. Contractors began submitting bids for the basement work in September,{{harvnb|Balmori|1987|ps=.|pp=353–354}} and the granite to be used in the basement had been prepared two months later. In March 1873, the main contractor was selected. The original building plans indicated that the building would only be nine stories tall, but it was ultimately built with ten stories, excluding the ground story, which was considered a fully raised basement. Initially, the building was slated to be completed in mid-1874, but work had only reached the seventh story by then. The deliveries of Richmond granite had been delayed because of a flood in the quarry where the granite was being procured.{{cite news|date=May 2, 1874|title=New Buildings in Progress: the Western Union Building—the Dry Dock Savings Bank—the New Fifth-Ave. Presbyterian Church|page=3|work=New-York Tribune|url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/572574181|url-access=subscription|access-date=January 31, 2021|id={{ProQuest|572574181}}|archive-date=November 10, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211110164805/https://www.proquest.com/docview/572574181|url-status=live}} The building was ready for occupancy by February 1, 1875.{{harvnb|Reid|1879|ps=.|pp=568–569}} It had cost $2.2 million in total to construct.

When the building opened, the first and second floors were leased to office tenants. One room on the first floor was occupied by the editor of the Western Union Telegraph Company's paper, the Journal of The Telegraph.{{harvnb|Reid|1879|ps=.|p=570}}{{harvnb|Landau|Condit|1996|ps=.|p=84}} The third through fifth floors were occupied by Western Union's executive officers; the electrician, auditor, tariff bureau, and general superintendents' offices; and the Gold and Stock Telegraph Company.{{harvnb|Reid|1879|pp=570–571}}; {{harvnb|Western Union|1875|ps=.|p=50}} The northeast corner of the third floor contained the Western Union president's office.{{harvnb|Western Union|1875|ps=.|p=50}} Initially, the telegraph operating room was maintained by 290 operators, of which 215 were men and 75 were women. The operating room was maintained 24 hours a day. According to an 1879 book, the room was staffed by over three hundred operators in the daytime and by one hundred operators at night.{{harvnb|Reid|1879|ps=.|p=572}}

Electric lighting was installed in the building in 1883, supplanting the gas lighting system in use prior to then.{{cite news|date=March 7, 1883|title=New York Items: Edison's Lights to Be Introduced Into the Western Union Telegraph Building|page=2|work=Courier-Journal|url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/1082117055|url-access=subscription|access-date=January 31, 2021|id={{ProQuest|1082117055}}|archive-date=April 22, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220422170751/https://www.proquest.com/docview/1082117055|url-status=live}} By 1886, Western Union took up the whole first floor and much of the third floor. The whole fifth floor and much of the fourth floor were rented to other companies. The roof was slightly damaged in an 1889 fire, an incident that was described by the news media as demonstrating the fireproof quality of the building.{{cite news|last=|first=|date=November 22, 1889|title=Western Union Building Damaged: the Loss Slight and No Interruption to the Company's Business Explosion and Flames in a Church|page=3|work=New-York Tribune|url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/573507190|url-status=live|url-access=subscription|access-date=January 31, 2021|id={{ProQuest|573507190}}|archive-date=November 10, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211110172729/https://www.proquest.com/docview/573507190}} By 1890, the lowest five floors were occupied by the New York Associated Press and numerous railroad systems.{{Cite news|date=July 18, 1890|title=Flames at Work|pages=1|work=Times Union|via=newspapers.com {{open access}}|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/69038138/flames-at-work/|access-date=January 31, 2021|archive-date=February 5, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210205073630/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/69038138/flames-at-work/|url-status=live}}

On July 18, 1890, the roof and top floors were destroyed in a fire, surmised to have been caused by faulty electric wires.{{Cite news|date=July 18, 1890|title=Fire in the Air|pages=1|work=The Evening World|via=newspapers.com {{open access}}|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/69037741/fire-in-the-air/|access-date=January 31, 2021|archive-date=February 5, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210205162828/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/69037741/fire-in-the-air/|url-status=live}} The structure had been poorly equipped for fire protection, as it contained flammable objects in its storerooms, while having few egress routes.{{cite magazine|date=July 26, 1890|title=The Reconstructed Western Union Building|url=https://rerecord.library.columbia.edu/document.php?vol=ldpd_7031148_006&page=ldpd_7031148_006_00000128&no=9|journal=The Real Estate Record: Real Estate Record and Builders' Guide|volume=46|pages=110|via=columbia.edu|number=1167|access-date=July 18, 2022|archive-date=November 10, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211110164813/https://rerecord.library.columbia.edu/document.php?vol=ldpd_7031148_006&page=ldpd_7031148_006_00000128&no=9|url-status=live}} The fifth floor, the highest floor that survived the fire, was cleared out to make way for a temporary operating room, but the remaining portion of the building was damaged by the water that had been used to extinguish the fire.{{Cite news|last=|first=|date=July 20, 1890|title=The Wires Are Working; Telegraph Service Being Put Into Shape. The Western Union Building in the Hands of Repairers – Business Transacted at Branch Offices.|language=en-US|page=1|work=The New York Times|url=http://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1890/07/20/106040033.pdf|url-status=live|access-date=January 31, 2021|issn=0362-4331|archive-date=July 18, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220718012211/https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1890/07/20/106040033.pdf}} While the fire itself did not cause any deaths, a workman removing debris died in the aftermath when a temporary debris-removal chute fell onto him.{{cite news|date=July 31, 1890|title=Killed by a Falling Chute: Fatal Sequel of the Western Union Building Fire—another Man Hurt Seriously|page=3|work=New-York Tribune|url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/573609682|url-access=subscription|access-date=January 31, 2021|id={{ProQuest|573609682}}|archive-date=November 10, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211110164207/https://www.proquest.com/docview/573609682|url-status=live}} Within four days of the fire, the operators had returned to work. Western Union officials had hired Post to survey the building to determine how the upper section of the building would be repaired.{{cite news|date=July 22, 1890|title=Ready for Work Again: Three Hundred Telegraph Operators at Their Posts the Western Union Building a Busy Place—pushing the Repairs Rapidly|page=1|work=New-York Tribune|url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/573552112|url-access=subscription|access-date=January 31, 2021|id={{ProQuest|573552112}}|archive-date=November 10, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211110172748/https://www.proquest.com/docview/573552112|url-status=live}}{{Cite news|last=|first=|date=July 22, 1890|title=Repairs Go on Briskly: the Western Union Restoring Order Out of Confusion. Transmissions Still Subjected to Great Delay, but the System Almost in Working Order.|language=en-US|page=8|work=The New York Times|url=http://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1890/07/22/106040466.pdf|url-status=live|access-date=January 31, 2021|issn=0362-4331|archive-date=July 18, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220718012211/https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1890/07/22/106040466.pdf}} Ultimately, Western Union decided to remove the top five stories and add a four-story flat-roof extension.{{Cite news|last=|first=|date=July 23, 1890|title=The Western Union Fire.: Plans for the Reconstructed Building -all Wires Working.|language=en-US|page=8|work=The New York Times|url=http://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1890/07/24/103254087.pdf|url-status=live|access-date=January 31, 2021|issn=0362-4331|archive-date=July 18, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220718012213/https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1890/07/24/103254087.pdf}} Hardenbergh was hired for the expansion, which was completed in 1891,{{cite magazine|date=April 25, 1891|title=The Reconstructed Western Union Building|url=https://rerecord.library.columbia.edu/document.php?vol=ldpd_7031148_007&page=ldpd_7031148_007_00000757&no=8|journal=The Real Estate Record: Real Estate Record and Builders' Guide|volume=47|pages=647|via=columbia.edu|number=1206|access-date=July 18, 2022|archive-date=February 7, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210207173458/https://rerecord.library.columbia.edu/document.php?vol=ldpd_7031148_007&page=ldpd_7031148_007_00000757&no=8|url-status=live}} although the media were given a tour of the new operating room in 1892. The expanded building occupied an additional lot at 14–18 Dey Street as well as the site of the older building.

File:195_Bwy_south_sun_jeh.jpg, which replaced the Western Union Building in 1916]]

In the first decade of the 20th century, Western Union began buying other lots on the same block.{{Cite news|last=|first=|date=December 10, 1904|title=In the Real Estate Field; Western Union Adds to Its Dey Street Holdings – Broadway Lots Sold on the Heights – Buyers for Houses in Fifth Avenue Section – Day's Dealings in Bronx Properties|language=en-US|page=14|work=The New York Times|url=http://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1904/12/10/101403735.pdf|url-status=live|access-date=February 1, 2021|issn=0362-4331|archive-date=July 18, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220718012211/https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1904/12/10/101403735.pdf}} Western Union was acquired by AT&T in 1909, and the following year, AT&T revealed plans to improve Western Union's offices "for the accommodation of the public and the welfare" of workers.{{Cite news|date=April 7, 1910|title=Western Union For More Improvements; Executive Board Pledges the Company Also to Increased Salaries Based on Merit|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1910/04/07/archives/western-union-for-more-improvements-executive-board-pledges-the.html|access-date=February 9, 2020|issn=0362-4331|archive-date=February 4, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210204192507/https://www.nytimes.com/1910/04/07/archives/western-union-for-more-improvements-executive-board-pledges-the.html|url-status=live}} William W. Bosworth was offered the commission to design a headquarters building at 195 Broadway in November 1911.{{cite news|last=|first=|date=November 19, 1911|title=Western Union to Build: Will Erect 26 Story Building at Broadway and Dey Street|page=2|work=New-York Tribune|url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/574839083|url-status=live|url-access=subscription|access-date=January 31, 2021|id={{ProQuest|574839083}}|archive-date=July 18, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220718012220/https://www.proquest.com/docview/574839083}}{{cite report|url=|title=William Welles Bosworth: Major Works|last=Jacobs|first=Quentin Snowden|date=1988|publisher=Historic Preservation, Columbia University|issue=|doi=|volume=|page=87|pmid=|access-date=|type=MS Thesis}} He devised plans for a 29-story, white-faced building on Broadway from Dey Street to Fulton Street, on the site of the Western Union Building as well as the additional lots.{{Cite news|last=Gray|first=Christopher|date=April 23, 2000|title=Streetscapes/AT&T Headquarters at 195 Broadway; A Bellwether Building Where History Was Made|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2000/04/23/realestate/streetscapes-t-headquarters-195-broadway-bellwether-building-where-history-was.html|url-status=live|access-date=February 9, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200310024204/https://www.nytimes.com/2000/04/23/realestate/streetscapes-t-headquarters-195-broadway-bellwether-building-where-history-was.html|archive-date=March 10, 2020|issn=0362-4331}} To minimize disruption to Western Union's operations, the new building was to be constructed in several portions, and the 195 Broadway Corporation was organized to take over operation of the existing structure.{{cite web|date=July 25, 2006|title=American Telephone and Telegraph Building|url=http://s-media.nyc.gov/agencies/lpc/lp/2194.pdf|publisher=New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission|page=3|access-date=February 10, 2020|archive-date=December 27, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161227042817/http://s-media.nyc.gov/agencies/lpc/lp/2194.pdf|url-status=live}}{{Cite news|date=December 11, 1913|title=The Real Estate Field; Private Dwellings the Feature of a Dull Market|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1913/12/11/archives/the-real-estate-field-private-dwellings-the-feature-of-a-dull.html|access-date=February 9, 2020|issn=0362-4331|archive-date=November 16, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201116190005/https://www.nytimes.com/1913/12/11/archives/the-real-estate-field-private-dwellings-the-feature-of-a-dull.html|url-status=live}}

The Western Union Building annex at 14–18 Dey Street was demolished starting in 1912. The New York Associated Press moved to 51 Chambers Street in April 1914,{{Cite news|last=|first=|date=April 6, 1914|title=Associated Press to Move to-day; Will Take Larger Quarters in Emigrant Savings Bank Building|language=en-US|page=8|work=The New York Times|url=http://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1914/04/06/101720525.pdf|url-status=live|access-date=February 1, 2021|issn=0362-4331|archive-date=April 24, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220424183649/https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1914/04/06/101720525.pdf}} and Western Union employees moved to a new structure at 32 Avenue of the Americas that June.{{Cite news|last=|first=|date=June 29, 1914|title=State Fund Insurance; Big Employers Taking Out Policies – 4,000 Already Written.|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1914/06/29/archives/state-fund-insurance-big-employers-taking-out-policies-4000-already.html|url-status=live|access-date=February 9, 2020|issn=0362-4331|archive-date=March 17, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200317214008/https://www.nytimes.com/1914/06/29/archives/state-fund-insurance-big-employers-taking-out-policies-4000-already.html}} By that August, The Wall Street Journal reported that the old building was quickly demolished, stating, "The walls will soon be completely razed."{{cite news|date=August 26, 1914|title=Old Western Union Building Nearly Razed: New Structure to Rise on the Site to Cost About $4,000,000 and the Value of the Ground Is $2,575,000—power of Leases on Real Estate|page=6|work=Wall Street Journal|url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/129443555|url-access=subscription|access-date=January 31, 2021|issn=0099-9660|id={{ProQuest|129443555}}|archive-date=November 10, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211110164205/https://www.proquest.com/docview/129443555|url-status=live}} The new 195 Broadway building was declared to be completed in 1916.{{cite magazine|last=Bosworth|first=William Welles|year=1917|title=The Telephone and Telegraph Building, New York City|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oyznAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA10|journal=Architecture and Building|publisher=W.T. Comstock Company|volume=49|page=4|access-date=February 9, 2020|archive-date=November 10, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211110164159/https://books.google.com/books?id=oyznAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA10|url-status=live}} Western Union continued to maintain their offices at 195 Broadway until 1930, when it moved to a new structure at 60 Hudson Street further north.{{Cite news|date=August 12, 1930|title=Western Union Quits Its 55-year-old Home; Begins Moving Executive Offices From 195 Broadway to New West Broadway Building.|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1930/08/12/archives/western-union-quits-its-55yearold-home-begins-moving-executive.html|url-status=live|access-date=February 9, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180226045841/https://www.nytimes.com/1930/08/12/archives/western-union-quits-its-55yearold-home-begins-moving-executive.html|archive-date=February 26, 2018|issn=0362-4331}}

The Western Union Building's design received mixed criticism. The magazine The Aldine compared the Western Union Building to a cathedral, given that it was so prominent in the skyline of Lower Manhattan.{{cite magazine|last=|first=|date=January 1875|title=Western Union Telegraph Building|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/20636937|journal=The Aldine|volume=7|issue=13|pages=258|jstor=20636937|via=|access-date=July 18, 2022|archive-date=November 10, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211110175144/https://www.jstor.org/stable/20636937|url-status=live}} The New-York Tribune lamented that "for so marked a building a larger site [...] could not have been secured".{{cite news|date=April 25, 1873|title=New Building of the Western Union Telegraph Company—its Dimensions and Arrangements|page=8|work=New-York Tribune|url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/572497631/|url-access=subscription|access-date=January 31, 2021|archive-date=November 10, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211110164206/https://www.proquest.com/docview/572497631/|url-status=live}} Alfred J. Bloor, addressing the American Institute of Architects shortly after the building's completion, felt that Post had made a mistake in using light-colored stone for the bands on the facade, as well as criticized the shaft and roof designs. Even so, he also stated his admiration for the design.{{cite magazine|last=Bloor|first=A. J.|date=October 12, 1876|title=Annual Address|journal=Proceedings of the Annual Convention of the American Institute of Architects|url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uiug.30112042696218&view=1up&seq=1|pages=29–30|volume=10|access-date=July 18, 2022|archive-date=November 10, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211110190326/https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uiug.30112042696218&view=1up&seq=1|url-status=live}}{{harvnb|Stern|Mellins|Fishman|1999|ps=.|p=399}} Post's involvement in the Western Union Building led Vanderbilt, then Western Union's main stockholder, to contract the design of his Fifth Avenue house to Post, despite the latter's relative inexperience in designing residences. When the upper stories' reconstruction was completed, the Real Estate Record and Guide criticized the new design, saying, "The reconstructed building is now finished architecturally; we were about to say 'completed'; but that it can never be to the end of time. In mathematics, two halves may make a whole, but in architecture, they do not necessarily; and in the example in question most decidedly they do not."

Later reviews also emphasized the building's importance. Architectural writer Winston Weisman stated in 1972 that the "basic principle" of architecture was "dictated by function", which Post "state[d] architecturally in refined form and in an exceptionally tall building where its message could not be missed".{{harvnb|Weisman|1972|ps=.|pp=182–183}} Stern, writing in 1999, described the building as "a grand corporate monument, one of a handful of important buildings" that followed the completion of the Equitable Building.

The initial structure has been described as one of three influential early skyscrapers of Lower Manhattan, along with the Equitable Life Building and the New York Tribune Building.{{Cite news|last=Gray|first=Christopher|date=May 15, 1988|title=In the New York Region; the Lost Skyscrapers of Bygone New York|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1988/05/15/realestate/in-the-new-york-region-the-lost-skyscrapers-of-bygone-new-york.html|access-date=September 20, 2020|issn=0362-4331|archive-date=October 23, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201023103836/https://www.nytimes.com/1988/05/15/realestate/in-the-new-york-region-the-lost-skyscrapers-of-bygone-new-york.html|url-status=live}}{{harvnb|Landau|Condit|1996|ps=.|p=62}} The Tribune and Western Union Buildings are variously cited as being either the first-ever skyscrapers,{{harvnb|Landau|Condit|1996|p=62}}; {{harvnb|ps=.|Weisman|1953|p=13}} or the next major skyscrapers after the Equitable Life Building because of their substantial height increase.{{Cite book|last1=Kaufmann|first1=Edgar|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1121117656|title=The rise of an American architecture, etc.|last2=Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York|first2=N.Y.)|last3=Fein|first3=Albert|last4=Hitchcock|first4=Henry-Russell|last5=Scully|first5=Vincent Joseph|last6=Weisman|first6=Winston|date=1970|publisher=Pall Mall P.|location=London|pages=125|language=en|chapter=A New View of Skyscraper History|oclc=1121117656}}{{Cite book|last=Hitchcock|first=Henry-Russell|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/702601662|title=Architecture: nineteenth and twentieth centuries|date=1992|publisher=Yale University Press|isbn=978-0-300-05320-3|location=New Haven|pages=239|language=en|oclc=702601662}} Architectural historian Montgomery Schuyler wrote that the Tribune and Western Union Buildings were "much more visibly than the Equitable the products of the elevator", in reference to the Equitable Life Building's design, which gave it a diminished appearance.{{cite magazine|last=Schuyler|first=Montgomery|date=September 1909|title=The Evolution of the Skyscraper|url=https://hdl.handle.net/2027/umn.319510019200199?urlappend=%3Bseq=296|journal=Scribner's Magazine|volume=46|page=261|hdl=2027/umn.319510019200199?urlappend=%3Bseq=296|access-date=January 29, 2021|archive-date=July 18, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220718012216/https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=umn.319510019200199;seq=296|url-status=live}} The height difference from the Equitable was significant enough to attract attention from media reports such as the Graphic, which had written in 1873 that "the Western Union Building would be the loftiest business structure on Broadway twice the height of the five-story brownstone structure just north of it".

{{notelist}}

{{reflist}}

• {{cite journal|last=Balmori|first=Diana|date=December 1987|title=George B. Post: The Process of Design and the New American Architectural Office (1868–1913)|url=http://jsah.ucpress.edu/cgi/doi/10.2307/990273|journal=Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians|volume=46|issue=4|pages=342–355|doi=10.2307/990273|jstor=990273|url-access=subscription}}{{Dead link|date=May 2025 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}
• {{cite book|last=Brewer|first=A.R.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EmFntOR3AHEC|title=Western Union Telegraph Company, 1851-1901|publisher=The Company|year=1901}}
• {{Cite nysky}}
• {{cite book|last=Reid|first=James D.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XXwfAQAAIAAJ|title=The Telegraph in America: Its Founders, Promoters, and Noted Men|publisher=Arno Press|year=1879|isbn=978-0-405-06056-4|series=Telecommunications}}
• {{Cite New York 1880}}
• {{cite magazine|last=|first=|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lWhNAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA200|title=The Western Union Telegraph Building|journal=Journal of the Telegraph|publisher=Western Union Telegraph Company|year=1875|volume=8|pages=49–51|ref={{harvid|Western Union|1875}}|issue=4}}
• {{cite journal|last=Weisman|first=Winston|date=September 1, 1972|title=The Commercial Architecture of George B. Post|journal=Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians|publisher=University of California Press|volume=31|issue=3|pages=176–203|doi=10.2307/988764|jstor=988764|issn=0037-9808}}
• {{cite journal|last=Weisman|first=Winston|date=1953|title=New York and the Problem of the First Skyscraper|journal=Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians|volume=12|issue=1|pages=13–21|doi=10.2307/987622|jstor=987622}}

• {{Commons category inline|Old Western Union Telegraph Building (Manhattan)}}

{{Broadway (Manhattan)}}

Category:1870s architecture in the United States

Category:1875 establishments in New York (state)

Category:1914 disestablishments in New York (state)

Category:Beaux-Arts architecture in New York City

Category:Broadway (Manhattan)

Category:Buildings and structures demolished in 1914

Category:Commercial buildings completed in 1875

Category:Demolished buildings and structures in Manhattan

Category:Financial District, Manhattan

Category:George B. Post buildings

Category:Skyscraper office buildings in Manhattan

Category:Western Union buildings and structures