COOPER RAY

Artist: Cooper Ray

Medium: 35mm  
Photograph Color

Edition: 1 of 1

Archive: 2015-0511-35 | CR | Token ID: 3

The Woolworth Building, completed 1913. Standing 792 feet tall, 233 Broadway was the tallest building in the world for more than 16 years, marking the end of the first great skyscraper race and inspiring tall buildings across the globe. The neo-gothic masterpiece was dubbed "The Cathedral of Commerce", it's 60 stories clad entirely in terra-cotta. The very top floor housed a small public observatory in it's heyday,  
which was only accessible by a small spiral staircase or a long defunct circular private elevator. The observatory floor, complete with flying buttresses high above the street, will never be publicly accessible again (like many other original skyscrapers of New York). 

This photograph was taken during a residential conversation of the upper 30 floors of the tower during my years as a bicycle courier, where i was able to research the layout of the building across many visits. This rare perspective is from the very pinnacle of the tower, above the observatory, next to a small enclosed lighthouse. Climb above the private elevator, up a small ladder, open a hatch into a small pitch black double height room only 10' wide. Climb a tall ladder up to a tiny hatch that opens up to the very pinnacle of the tower. There is barely a place to stand on the slanted surface. A crown of terra-cotta surrounds the lighthouse. A private castle above the greatest city in the world. 

I vividly remember listening to the 1956 prestige session "Mating Call" by Tadd Dameron and John Coltrane, sitting up here for hours, watching the shadow of the mighty Woolworth like a sundial across city hall park until the sun set that warm spring day. A very special moment in my life that can only be relived through the photographs i captured. The only way to get up here today is gain access to a 79 million dollar multi-floor penthouse apartment, that will likely be bought by some LLC of an anonymous international billionaire that will never appreciate this structures' glory and historical significance to the lineage of skyscrapers around the world. 

I will always have my humble day alone atop the Woolworth Building... I wonder who else has shared this experience with me over the last century. 

This photograph is minted the same day Manifold Studio is released to the public. Manifold is committed to offering artists creative sovereignty, ownership, and true independence on the blockchain. Now available to every human who decides to participate in Web3. This space has completely changed my life, it can change yours too. 

-Cooper 
233, 11:11 
12/21/2021  
The year of the NFT.