HISTORY PANEL 8

Title: World's Largest Building

Subtitle: Postcard, June 1909

Text: "F. E. R." inscribed this postcard to a friend in Scranton: "Here I am on the 18th floor -- overlooking the harbor and river -- in the largest office building in the world -- occupies two city blocks -- come to see?" An arrow points to the writer's office suite in the Hudson Terminal Buildings, twin structures with a rental area of about 1,100,000 square feet.

Period writers offered further statistics on the buildings: "The weight is estimated at 200,000 tons, resting on a cofferdam 400 x 178 feet, 75 to 98 feet deep. It is 22 stories, 375 feet high and has office room for 20,000 people. Two tubes enter the basement from Jersey City." These became the PATH train tunnels.

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