The World Building > Building The World Building
George B. Post, New York
Photograph of World Building Drawing
New York, 1889
World Papers, Box 10
From The World, Its History & Its New Home: “Mr. Joseph Pulitzer purchased The World, May 10, 1883. Its old plant, at 32 Park Row, then amply sufficient, was long since outgrown. Now, after seven and one-half years of unparalleled journalistic growth, The World enters its permanent home, the Pulitzer Building, the most magnificent and most thoroughly equipped newspaper edifice in existence.” This photograph of architect George B. Posts’s drawing of the façade was placed in the cornerstone box at the ceremony on October 10, 1889.
Gift of Joseph Pulitzer, Jr.
[George Turner]
Typed letter, carbon, unsigned, to George Post
New York, May 15, 1889
World Papers, Box 10
In his March 19, 1889 letter to Turner, Pulitzer had enjoined Turner, along with Kate’s brother William Davis, to act in every way on his behalf in working with Post on the new World Building. Soon after this letter of May 15, work began on the site, leading to the cornerstone ceremony held on October 10, 1889.
Gift of Joseph Pulitzer, Jr.
Joseph Pulitzer
Manuscript letter with autograph notes, signed, to George Turner
Paris, March 19, 1889
World Papers, Box 10
This 15-page letter, sent from Paris to World business manager George Turner, is signed by Pulitzer. It contains updates to Post’s contract, allocating another $60,000 for “extras” to the original limit on costs, and shows how Pulitzer was involved in every detail of the new building.
Gift of Joseph Pulitzer, Jr.
Joseph Pulitzer
Manuscript letter with autograph notes, signed, to George Turner
Paris, March 19, 1889
World Papers, Box 10
Gift of Joseph Pulitzer, Jr.
The Watts-Campbell Co., Newark
Printed and manuscript contract for one pair Watts-Campbell Improved Corliss Steam Engine
Newark, New Jersey, May 24, 1889
World Papers, Box 10
The heart of the printing plant in the basement of the World Building was a pair of “Improved Corliss Steam Engines,” providing 100 horse power, described in this contract. The price was $6,250, half payable “when delivered and the balance when running satisfactory.” The great Corliss Engine that had powered virtually all of the machinery at the Philadelphia Centennial Exhibition brought Corliss’s Rhode Island firm to world attention in 1876.
Gift of Joseph Pulitzer, Jr.
F. T. Ellithorpe, New York
F. T. Ellilthorpe's Improved Air-Cushion with Self-Closing Elevator Door
Baltimore: Fuld Brothers, Electric Power Printers, [ca. 1887]
World Papers, Box 11
F. T. Ellithorpe's Air-Cushion elevator design was tested in the World Building on March 27, 1887, according to this advertising pamphlet, by causing eggs and "thin crystal glasses" to fall a distance of 80 feet. All "were intact with the exception of one egg, which was broken and that not badly."
Gift of Joseph Pulitzer, Jr.