Not Famous, But Practical

The New York Times, like every newspaper in the city founded before 1900, started downtown. After renting space for its first few years, the paper built the old 41 Park Row in 1858, then reconfigured and expanded that building (to the point where it was effective rebuilt) at the same site and address in 1889. The rebuilt 41 Park Row is still there and is now landmarked, but the Times was only there for a few years. After a few years, the paper was again looking for more space, and ended up at the dramatically narrow triangular block bounded by 42nd Street on the south, Seventh Avenue on the west, and Broadway as the hypotenuse on the east. The resulting tower included new IRT subway tunnels in its subcellars, got Longacre Square renamed Times Square, and presented a profile as dramatic (if not as well designed) as the Flatiron Building. The paper was there from 1905 to 1913. Skipping ahead, since 2007, the Times has been at Eighth Avenue and 41st Street, in a building that is its…