15. One Times Square

Times Square 1910-NYC

The New York Times moved to Long Acre Square on December 31, 1903, celebrating the occasion with fireworks, now the annual New Year’s Eve tradition with the New Year’s Eve ball introduced in 1908. The narrow building at 42nd Street between Broadway and 7th Avenue, now known as One Times Square, was the newspaper’s headquarters until 1913, when the New York Times built a new annex at West 43rd Street. One Times Square itself was built atop the site of the former Pabst Hotel.

The original facade of One Times Square was granite and terra-cotta but it was reclad in marble in the 1960s. In 1995 Lehman Brothers bought One Times Square for $27.5 million to retrofit as an advertising billboard instead of office space. The wildly profitable building was worth $495 million in 2012 despite being virtually empty on its upper floors. Today the New Year’s Eve ball is stored at the top of the building.

The New York Times moved to its latest headquarters at 620 Eighth Avenue in 2007.

[The above entry excerpted from the book Broadway, by Untapped Cities founder Michelle Young]

One Times Square Under Construction-NY TImes-NYC

Next, read about newspaper row, the secrets of Herald Square, and the Secrets of Times Square. Contact the author @Jeff_Reuben