Wilder Building

{{short description|Historic commercial building in New York, United States}} {{Distinguish|text = the Robert O. Wilder Building in Tougaloo, Mississippi}} {{Use mdy dates|date=March 2025}} {{Use American English|date=February 2025}}

{{Infobox NRHP | name = Wilder Building | nrhp_type = | image = File:WilderBuildingSummerSolstice.jpg | caption = | location = 1 E. Main St., Rochester, New York | coordinates = {{coord|43|9|19|N|77|36|44|W|region:US_type:landmark|display=inline,title}} | locmapin = New York#USA | built = 1887 | architect = Warner & Brockett | architecture = Romanesque | added = October 04, 1985 | area = less than one acre | mpsub = {{NRHP url|id=64000563|title=Inner Loop MRA}} | refnum = 85002863<ref name="nris">{{NRISref|2009a}}</ref> }} '''Wilder Building''' is a historic office building located in Rochester, New York. It is an eleven-story steel or iron framed brick clad structure built between 1887 and 1888 in a modified Romanesque style. It is considered Rochester's first modern skyscraper and is considered to be among the oldest of the early skyscrapers. It was designed by noted Rochester architects Warner & Brockett.<ref name=nrhpdoc>{{cite report|type=none|url=https://catalog.archives.gov/id/75313616 |title=National Register of Historic Places Registration: New York MPS Wilder Building|publisher=National Archives and Records Administration |author= Ted Bartlett|date= August 1985| access-date=November 7, 2025 }} ({{NationalArchivesNote}})</ref>

It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1985.<ref name="nris"/>

The Wilder Building originally contained spires at each corner of its roof, but they have since been removed.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.lowerfalls.org/100acrestour/|title=Walking Tour of Rochester's One Hundred Acre Plot|website=www.lowerfalls.org|access-date=2017-11-30}}</ref>

== Mail Chute == James Goold Cutler received [https://patents.google.com/patent/US284951 U.S. Patent 284,951] on September 11, 1883, for the mail chute. The first one was installed in 1884 in the Elwood Building. Then, during its 1887 construction, Cutler installed a perfected mail chute in the Wilder Building.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4mSd1fsXTfAC&q=wilder+building+mail+chute&pg=PA58|title=Rochester's Downtown Architecture, 1950-1975|last=Palmer|first=Daniel J.|date=2010|publisher=Arcadia Publishing|isbn=9780738572505|language=en}}</ref> With the Elwood Building having been demolished in 1965, the Wilder Building's mail chute is currently the oldest surviving one.

<GALLERY> File:WilderBuildingRochesterNewYork.jpg File:WilderBuildingRochesterLobbyLookingIn.jpg File:WilderBuildingRochesterLobbyLookingOut.jpg File:WilderBuildingRochesterHallwayFloor10.jpg File:WilderBuildingRochesterViewOfMainStreet.jpg </GALLERY>

==References== {{reflist}}

==External links== {{Commons category|Wilder Building (Rochester, New York)}}

Category:Skyscraper office buildings in Rochester, New York Category:Office buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in New York (state) Category:Office buildings completed in 1888 Category:National Register of Historic Places in Rochester, New York