1917-1930s: H. W. Corbett's Greatest Influence
As part of the firm of Helmle & Corbett, Harvey Wiley Corbett designed Bush Tower, a 30-story Neo-Gothic skyscraper built for the Bush Terminal Company on 42nd St. near Times Square, Manhattan. The tower, "with its prominent position and slight setbacks in buff, white and black brick, marked his début as an influential skyscraper designer."
Corbett's next major commission was in London, where again working for Irving T. Bush and the Bush Terminal Co., he was the architect for Bush House, a massive and essentially American-style office building built within the limits of strict London building codes.
Later in the 1920s, Harvey Wiley Corbett was part of one of the three firms that designed Rockefeller Center in New York. Corbett however left the Rockefeller Center project in 1928 so he could work on plans for the Metropolitan Life North Building, designed as a 100-story skyscraper and the world's tallest building, but eventually built as a 32-story tower during the Great Depression.
H.W. Corbett continued to design some structures during the Great Depression, including the 1939-1941 courthouse structure of the New York City Criminal Courts Building (The Tombs).
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