three brands into the current company the SVP Group. Its main competitors are Baby Lock, Bernina, Brother, Janome, Juki and Aisin Seiki. Singer was heavily involved in Manhattan real estate in the 1800s through Edward C. Clark, a founder of the company. Clark had built The Dakota apartments and other Manhattan buildings in the 1880s. In 1900, the Singer company retained Ernest Flagg to build a 12-story loft building at Broadway and Prince Street in Lower Manhattan. The building is now considered architecturally notable, and it has been restored. The 47-story Singer Building, completed in 1908, was also designed by Flagg, who designed two landmark residences for Bourne. Constructed during Bourne's tenure, the Singer Building (demolished in 1968) was then the tallest building in the world and was the tallest building to be intentionally demolished until the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center were destroyed in the September 11 attacks. At their Clydebank factory, Singer built a clock tower, which stood over the central wing and had the reputation of being the largest four-faced clock in the world. Each face weighed five tons, and it took four men fifteen minutes twice a week to keep it wound. The tower was demolished in 1963,17 years before the factory closed in 1980 and is now the site of Clydebank Business Park. Singer railway station, built to serve the factory, is only one of two railway stations in the UK, named after a factory, and is still in operation today. The famous Singer House, designed by architect Pavel Suzor, was built in 1902–1904 at Nevsky Prospekt in Saint Petersburg as headquarters of the Russian branch of the company. This modern style building (situated just opposite the Kazan Cathedral) is officially recognized as an object of Russian historical-cultural heritage. In 2018, a large factory fire destroyed a Singer distribution office and warehouse in Seven Hills, Sydney. Singer had manufactured sewing machines in Australia at a purpose-built plant in the western Sydney suburb of Penrith, from 1959 until 1967. List of company presidents Isaac M. Singer (1851–1863) Inslee Hopper (1863–1875) Edward C. Clark (1875–1882) George Ross McKenzie (1882–1889) Frederick Gilbert Bourne (1889–1905) Sir Douglas Alexander (1905–1949) Milton C. Lightner (1949–1958) Donald P. Kircher (1958–1975) Joseph Bernard Flavin (1975–1987) Paul Bilzerian (1987–1989) Iftikhar Ahmed (1989–1997) Stephen H. Goodman (1998–2004) Popular domestic Singer sewing machines See also History of the sewing machine List of sewing machine