The Way I Heard It with Mike Rowe - 50: Size Matters

Episode Date: April 11, 2017

In a competition like this - every inch counts.

This is the way I heard it. Bill had a big one. No doubt about it. But Craigs was bigger. Not by much, but in a contest where every inch mattered, Craig had more inches. So Bill made a few adjustments, and soon his was once again bigger than Craig's. But then Craig made some adjustments of his own, and now Craigs was not only bigger than Bill's, it was also more interesting to look at, thanks to the enormous tip.

on the end. But Bill, Bill had one more trick up his sleeve, and when the measuring finally stopped, one of these men would proudly claim the world's biggest direction. When it comes to New York City architecture, size matters, and no one knew that better than Bill the artist and Craig, the businessman, two famous architects who became bitter rivals in their quest to erect the tallest building in the world. Their former partnership had been legendary. Bill was the artistic genius, brilliance, but mostly void of charisma. Craig was the consummate businessman, handsome, silver-tongued, and highly motivated. Together they had been a perfect team. Craig landed the high-profile commissions, and Bill designed the impressive, groundbreaking structures that made them both rich.

Unfortunately, as their bank accounts grew, so did their egos. You see, Craig was also an accomplished architect in his own right. He didn't appreciate the constant newspaper articles that raved about Bill's artistic genius. And for his part, Bill resented being seen as the boardroom lightweight, incapable of handling big deals. He hated the way. His clients always looked at Craig whenever they talked about money. Eventually, the artist and the businessman went there separate ways in a very public, very nasty divorce. But then, as fate would have it, each architect landed the commission of a lifetime simultaneously.

In 1928, Bill was contacted by a business tycoon who wanted him to design the tallest building on earth. Bill agreed and submitted plans for a soaring tower in Midtown Manhattan, 8.9 feet tall. Shortly thereafter, Craig agreed to design the Bank of Manhattan Trust building down on Wall Street. According to Craig's plan, he would build a grand tower 840 feet tall. Well, when Bill learned that Craig's design was 31 feet taller than his, he quickly added to extra floors to his blueprint. Craig responded by adding an extra floor to his. Bill followed suit. Soon. Both men were flirting with a design over 900 feet and the public was transfixed. Ultimately, though, Craig had the advantage because the base of his tower was broader than Bill's

and could support more floors. But then Bill found a unique way to stretch his upper floors. adding extra height and dramatically altering the aesthetics in a way that nobody had ever imagined. When the final designs were ultimately approved, everyone assumed the battle was done. Bill's Tower in Midtown would be the tallest building in the world, and Craig's Tower on Wall Street would be a close second. But a man like Craig could never live with second place, especially at the hands of his former partner. After both towers were seemingly completed in 1930, Bill appeared victorious, but then Craig whipped out his secret weapon, a giant tip called a lantern, along with a flagpole, bringing 40 Wall Street to 927 feet, two feet taller than Bill's Midtown Tower.

That made 40 Wall Street the tallest building in the world, and Craig rejoiced in every glorious inch for about a month. Because a man like Bill could never live with second place, especially at the hands of his former partner. So Bill had constructed a top secret spire, 185 feet tall, code named the vertex. Its existence was known only to a small group of steel workers who had worked on it in secrecy and stored the massive pinnacle in the elevator shaft. On May 22nd, 1930, just 30 days after Craig laid claim to the world's biggest direction, Bill wrote a private elevator to the 71st floor of his Midtown masterpiece. There, he looked out upon his former partners looming behemoth six miles to the south and gave the signal.

A giant crane hoisted the vertex into place, making Bill's erection the biggest in the world and flipping his former partner the biggest middle finger ever raised over Manhattan. But of course, erections are unpredictable things. And while size certainly matters, it is by no means the only measure of satisfaction. Bill, for instance, in his haste to make his bigger,

overlooked something that Craig, the businessman, would have never ignored. He forgot to get a signed contract with his client. Now, the tycoon who had hired him to design what he called a monument to myself refused to pay Bill his full commission. Bill took the tycoon to court and eventually got his money, but in the genteel days of boater hats and pocket fobs, a lawsuit was considered an ungentlemanly way to conduct business. Thus, the brilliant architect named Bill Van Allen destroyed his reputation by fighting over the size of his commission. and even though his iconic tower is now considered by many to be the most significant structure to ever grace the Manhattan skyline, the tycoon named Walter, turned out to be his final client and the Chrysler building, his last public erection. As for Craig, the businessman, he was well paid for his efforts at 40 Wall Street, but his buildings.

but his building is no longer the second tallest in the world, or the third, or the fifth, or the 25th. It's fallen to number 33. But still, it's worth remembering that for one glorious month in the spring of 1930, nobody had a bigger one than Craig Severance, the architect and businessman who relished the art of the deal, more than the artistry of the world. of his chosen trade.

Something perhaps for the current owner to reflect upon. Another New York builder who has from time to time ruminated on the importance of size, a man whose last name now appears on the facade of 40 Wall Street in big gold letters, enormous letters, maybe the biggest letters in the whole world, the Trump building. Okay, they may not be the biggest, but they are definitely huge. Anyway, that's the way I heard it.

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