New York Times Skyscraper at 41 Park Row

The first Times Building was erected in 1857-1858 at 41 Park Row, with fronts on Nassau and Spruce streets and facing the Printing House Square. It was the third home of the New York Times.

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Times Building was an imposing structure when it was completed in 1858, but the skyscraper era began in the 1870s and much taller buildings were erected nearby, specially the Tribune Building, completed in 1875, and the adjoining Potter Building, completed at 38 Park Row, in 1886, which overshadowed The Times.

On January 23, 1888, a 13-story early skyscraper began to be constructed at 41 Park Row, around the core of the old building, so that the printing presses could be kept operating. The newspaper staff continued to work inside the old structure during the construction of the new building. At the time the newspaper was printed on five Walter presses, each printed from a continuous roll of paper.

The new 13-story building, the Times first skyscraper, was designed by George Browne Post (1837-1913) in Romanesque revival style. The New York Times called it at the time "the finest newspaper building in the world". Post also designed the Western Union Telegraph Building, the Produce Exchange, St. Paul Building, the orld Building, the Bronx Borough Hall and the Wisconsin State Capitol, among others.

The new structure was completed in April 1889 (the new publication office opened on April 8). It included a mansard roof with gabled dormers. The fronts were built of rusticated Indiana limestone blocks above a gray Maine granite base. The façades details include compound colonnettes, roll moldings, miniature balustrades and foliate reliefs.

In August 1896, The New-York Times' finances was tumbling and Adolph Simon Ochs (1858-1935) took control of the newspaper. The hyphen in the name was dropped, operating costs were substantially reduced and several new sections were introduced to the newspaper.

In the late 19th century, The Times was overshadowed again by neighboring skyscrapers. In August 1902, the New York Times announced the acquisition of the trapezoidal site in Long Acre Square, Midtown Manhattan, for the purpose of erecting its new headquarters.

In 1904, the new Times Building was under construction and the old headquarters, at 41 Park Row, was expanded to a 16-story office building, with plans by architect Robert Maynicke (1849–1913), a pioneer in loft buildings. Maynicke had filed plans with the Department of Buildings for alterations to 41 Park Row in December 1903. The mansard roof was removed and the ground-floor offices of the Times were converted to retail use. The twelfth story, which had been a double-height story with a mezzanine, was divided into two stories, and three new stories was constructed for a total of 16 stories. The expansion was completed in 1905 and the structure was renamed the 41 Park Row Building (aka 39-43 Park Row and 147-151 Nassau Street). In the same year, the New York Times staff moved to its new home at Times Square.

Alterations in the building were made in 1915, 1916, 1919, 1928, 1938 and 1941. In 1951, Pace University purchased the sixteen-story 41 Park Row building for part of its Manhattan campus, converting the offices to classrooms, among other changes. More alterations were made in 1956, 1962 and in the 1980s. In 1999, the building was designated as a New York City landmark.

The newspaper moved again in 1913 to a new headquarters at 229 West 43rd Street. The present New York Times Building is at 620 Eighth Avenue, a 52-story skyscraper completed in June 2007.