New York in Black and White

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NEW YORK IN BLACK AND WHITE

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Woolworth

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West St., 1885

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Herald Sq., 1888. 6th Ave. El.

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Terminal, 1892. Alfred Stieglitz.

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Winter, 1893. Stieglitz.

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Broadway, 1894

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Herald Sq., 1895

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Lower Broadway, 1899. Lots of hats.

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Police Parade, 1899. Bowler hats, hardly any women.

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Tiffany’s, Union Sq., 1899. Early car and some figures added by artist.

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Getting a ticket, 1900

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Easter, Fifth Avenue, 1900.One car visible, coming towards foreground.

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Hester St., Lower East Side, 1901.

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Flatiron, 1903. Burnham.

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Broad St., 1904. Stock Exchange and Federal Hall.

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Municipal Building under construction, 1904. McKim. No cars.

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The Belmont Coach, 1905, four horses. Dogs run free.

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Easter, Fifth Ave., 1906. No cars.

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City Hall subway, 1907. Turkish headhouses.

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Lower East Side, 1908.

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Herald Square, 1909. Skyscraper beyond is NY Times Building in Times Sq. Cars have replaced horses.

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Automatic Vaudeville, Union Sq., 1910.

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Downtown skyline with Singer Building., 1910. World’s tallest.

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Downtown skyline with Woolworth Building., 1913. World’s tallest.

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Birdseye, 1913, with artist’s enhancement. Hand colored.

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Federal Crowd Control, 1918. Machine guns in front, modified phalanx. Soldiers on sides assigned to upstairs windows. Wilson feared antiwar riots, losing mind to small strokes.

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Times Square from New York Times Building., 1922.

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HMS Leviathan and Singer Building., 1923.

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Fifth Ave., 1924. Buses and taxis on parade.

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Coney Island, 1928. Walker Evans.

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Lower Broadway Tickertape, 1928. For Bremen crew, first east-west transatlantic flight.

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1928. Three biggest spires not yet built. Fairchild Aerial Surveys.

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1935 Philadelphia, just for fun. Skyscraper density nearly matched New York’s. Fairchild.

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Chrysler Gargoyle, 1929.

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42nd Street, 1929. Walker Evans.

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Building the Empire State, 1930. Lewis Hine.

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Icarus, 1930. Hine.

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Liberty, 1930. With symbols.

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1931. Fairchild.

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Midtown, 1931. The tracks lead to Penn Station. Post Office spans tracks, may some day be Penn Station. Fairchild.

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Sikorsky Clipper, 1931. New spires gleam. River traffic, piers, ocean liner in slip.

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Midtown’s lineup of spires with sky in between, 1931.

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Six engines! 1931.

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The valley between, 1931.

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Brooklyn foreground, 1931. Small scale dense area between bridges on Manhattan side now a Ville Radieuse. Fairchild.

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Spires of Gotham, 1932

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Tropical Drinks Five Cents, 1932

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Subway execs inspect new subway car, 1933. Breakthrough blowers ventilate with windows closed! Cane seats.

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Columbus Circle, 1933. No Time-Warner, no Trump International, no Venetian palazzetto.

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Just $24 in1626? More than that in 1933.

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Three-point perspective, 1934.

Berenice Abbott photos, 1935

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Chambers at Oak. Horse-drawn wagon.

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Bowery.

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Henry St. Beyond, Towers of Zenith loom in the mist.

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Mad King Ludwig in Greenwich Village: Jeferson Market, then Jefferson Courthouse, now Jefferson Library, 6th Avenue.

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Murray Hill Hotel with fancy fire escape.

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Cities Service Tower. Horse-drawn wagons lingered into the mid-sixties.

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Prickly skyline with famous bridge, 1935.

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Times Square, 1935. Betty Boop on the marquee. The Astor came down mid-sixties, along with Penn Station and Singer Building: a bad time for beaux-arts. Streetcars in the square, no overhead wires.

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Times Square looking South to Times Building. Mid-sixties this was stripped to steel skeleton and re-clothed in kitsch marble by mod illustrator Peter Max. More bad times for beaux-arts.

Berenice Abbott photos, 1936

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The El featured potbellied stoves.

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Fifth Avenue bus in Washington Square.

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Dapper in front of Dock Department.

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Billie’s Bar, First Ave. at 56th.

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Bowery and Doyer. 3rd Ave. El.

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Christopher and Bleecker. A wood-clad survivor.

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Church of God, E. 132nd St.

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Ferry, Chambers St.

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Greyhound and Penn Station.

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Herald Sq. Chain-drive trucks also survived into the sixties.

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Manhattan Bridge.

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Milk Truck, Greenwich Village.

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Newspaper (Park) Row. Center building once tallest. Berenice Abbott.

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Park Ave. and 39th.

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At Hudson River terminus of Cortlandt St., motorized and horse-drawn vans transferred goods to and from barge-borne railcars.

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Pike and Henry, Lower East Side, with Manhattan Bridge and a horse.

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S. Klein On-The-Square, Union Sq. Contraposto.

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Union Square with Turkish subway kiosk. Is that man using a cellphone??

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Magnificent Manhattan spires from Willow and Poplar, Brooklyn. Cathedrals of Commerce.

Berenice Abbott photos, 1937

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Avenue D and 10th St. Chain-drive truck.

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Hester Street.

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Riverside Drive Viaduct. .

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Oyster House, South Street, under Manhattan Bridge, with pile of oyster shells.

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Father Duffy, Times Square. Andre Kertesz, 1937.

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Manhattan Bridge from Brooklyn (now DUMBO), Kertesz, 1937.

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Henry Hudson Parkway at 72nd St.: fancy interchange. Fairchild Aerial Surveys, 1937.

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Rockefeller Ctr., 1937. St. Thomas’ Church at left, site of Jackie O’s funeral. Fairchild.

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Simply Add Boiling Water, 1937. Photo by Weegee.

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The old Met(ropolitan Opera), Garment District, 1937. Weegee.

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Still clean and gleaming, the Towers of Zenith, 1937.

Berenice Abbott, 1938

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Duke Mansion, a tobacco tycoon’s, 1 E. 78th St. at Fifth Ave.

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40th between 6th and 7th. Zoning generates the form.

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Flam & Flam, Lawyers, 165 E. 121st St.

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Wall Street from 60 Wall.

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From 60 Wall Street.

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Cathedral Parkway (110th Street).

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Columbus Circle. Building with Coke sign another of Hearst’s skyscraper bases. Unlike the one Foster is currently completing, this one was torn down for the Gulf and Western Building, now re-imagined by Phillip Johnson as the Trump International Hotel.

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Jefferson Market with the hulking, deco Women’s House of Detention behind (now demolished for a park). From the barred, open windows, the ladies would hurl obscenities at passersby.

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504-506 Broome St. Ancient.

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Union Square West. A hilarious jumble gets A+ for accidental design. These lots once held town houses. Their dainty footprints have been preserved, so the buildings have a delicate scale regardless of their height. One is a miniature skyscraper. Scale-obsessed NIMBYs take note: you need to object to a building’s footprint, not its height.

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From Jersey, the classic skyline view.

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Subway Portrait. Walker Evans, 1938.

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Artists and Poets, Washington Sq., 1939

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42nd Street Beauties, looking west, 1939.

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Clipper, 1939. Europe in 29 hours.

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DC-4 Over Midtown, 1939. Hood’s Daily News Building lower right.

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Fish market meets railroad under Roebling’s bridge, 1939.

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Abandoned in the downpour, 1939. West Side.

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Forty-second Street.

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Sixth Avenue El, 1940.

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Downtown from Empire State. Andre Kertesz, 1940.

1940 Photos by Andreas Feininger

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Ninth Avenue El, 8th at 127th, Harlem.

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The Bowery.

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Bryant Park.

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Downtown Skyport with Cities Service Tower.

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The original twin towers.

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Tower trio. Slender flattop is Irving Trust, tower at right now belongs to Trump.

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New York’s greatest walk.

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Brooklyn and Manhattan Bridges.

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Girlies.

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Downtown gunsmith.

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Three icons: Empire State; Horn and Hardart (The Automat), New York’s original restaurant chain, long gone; lamp standard, now being re-installed.

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Elevated.

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Central Park looking southeast toward Grand Army Plaza. The baronial Savoy-Plaza Hotel dominates with its vast, vaguely French roof and twin chimneys: another major Beaux-Arts landmark demolished mid-sixties. Replaced by Stone’s vapid GM Building, recently acquired by Trump.

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Elevated station, Downtown.

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Underwear and kosher chickens.

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What happens when you burn coal.

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A Greek temple burning coal.

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Flatiron with Fifth Avenue bus.

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Garment District stacked factories steam hats.

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Arm wrestling in Harlem.

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Harlem night club.

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Lower East Side, tenement city, looking north.

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Streetwall: Park Avenue South.

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Raymond Hood, master of Deco.

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Seventh Avenue.

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South Street, now a theme park and mall.

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At the foot of 42nd Street: Normandie with three fat stacks in the middle, Queen Mary with three skinnier stacks at bottom. Normandie burned here, Nazi sabotage claimed. Normandie was that time’s biggest and fastest (Blue Ribbon).

1941 Photos by Feininger

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Forty-second Street. Mid-size Beaux-Arts skyscraper on north side of street is Times Building, of New Year’s fame. Building still exists but reclad in mid-sixties.

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Classic skyline view with America, junior edition United States.

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Downtown from Jersey.

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Midtown from Jersey.

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Horror vacui, Hebrew style.

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The hats match the canopies. Macy’s, 34th St.

Too much city? Here’s a brief Intermission from the 1870’s (we’ll be back in color)…

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Tisayac by Eadweard Muybridge, best known for time-lapse photos of men and horses running before graph paper backgrounds. He also famously murdered his wife’s lover in San Francisco.

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Tutokanula by Muybridge.

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Volcano.

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Cockatoo flying.

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Charles W. Cushman Photos, 1941
A color photographer with a black-and-white soul.

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The classic pyramid, here with harbor traffic and puffs of pollution.

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Suits on the pier. What are these men doing?

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Fulton St. from South St.

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Broome St. and Baruch Pl., Lower East Side. Not a sidewalk café.

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Lower East Side: street as living room.

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Lower East Side: street as conference room

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Municipal Building, Courthouse and Jail. Big arch seemed futile before El removed.
Fairchild Aerial Surveys, 1941.

Charles Cushman photos, 1942.

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Lunch, 5 Cents: looking up Broadway to Singer Building.

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Collecting the Salvage on Lower East Side.

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Pearl Street, 1942.

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Central Park. Feininger, 1943.

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The Fashionable People [harassed by the homeless]. Weegee, 1943.

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Murder in Hell’s Kitchen. Weegee, 1944.

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Coney Island. Weegee, 1945.

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The photographer Weegee (Arthur Fellig).

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Hole where plane (B-25) hit Empire State Building, 1945.

Andre Kertesz photos

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Brooklyn, 1947. Andre Kertesz.

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Lower 5th Avenue. Kertesz, 1948.

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East River Esplanade. Kertesz, 1948.

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Metropolitan Life and Empire State. Kertes, 1950.

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City. Kertesz, 1952.

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Skyline with Rooster. Kertesz, 1952.

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Washington Square. Kertesz, 1954.

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A city of spires. Just before the flattop invasion, late fifties.

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First view of Manhattan from the Queen Elizabeth, 1953. The module of the window.

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Liberty, 1954.

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Times Square with James Dean. Dennis Stock, 1955.

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Balcony. Kertesz, 1957.

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Guggenheim under construction, 1958. Car and building share design philosophy.

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MacDougal Alley. Kertesz,1958.

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Sixth Avenue. Kertesz, 1959.

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Man Sleeping. Kertesz, 1960.

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Whitehall street from Peter Minuit Plaza near Battery. Cushman, 1960.

Four photos by Kertesz

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Rooftop, 1961.

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Harlem, 1963.

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Washington Square, 1969. Edge of Arch at left.

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Washington Square Arch, 1970.

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Woody Allen and Cleopatra Jones,1971.

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Lying Men, Washington Sq. Kertesz, 1974.

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Kertesz, 1979.

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World Trade Center. Dennis Stock, 2001.

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Three New York Buildings

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Chrysler.

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Chrysler.

Two Greatest Beaux-Arts Buildings Demolished:

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The main waiting room. Groined vaults in coffered stone.

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The Baths of Caracalla.

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The way to the trains.

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Groined vaults in steel and glass.

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Seventh Avenue. McKim, Meade and White, architects. 1903-63. The building made it to age 60.

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613 feet!! In 1908!

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Ernest Flagg was the architect.

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This building also made it to age 60 [1908-68].

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Another five years and they would have preserved it.

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French Beaux-Arts.

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Vacant and awaiting demolition.

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From Broadway.

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Queen Elizabeth and skyline. Andre Kertesz, 1958.

[BigMac]

Very impressive collection!

[ube]

Great images all in one place ! I recall seeing some of these in the mueseum of the city of new york. :)

[Lemonsoda]

Wow. Spin-inducing, eyes-as-big-as-saucers pix.

I have a soft spot for the El's, but New York replete with horse-drawn buggies, carts and the faint whiff of manure seems positively alien.

[Kris]

Thanks for the fantastic presentation. Quite a few striking and sublime images.

[Lauren Loves NY]

Wow! Fantastic! I just spent over half an hour examining those. Thanks, I'm sure that was quite a labor-intensive post.

[ablarc]

This thread didn’t get many replies when first posted, so I’m bumping it. Some folks might want to download some of these pics to their personal collections. The images are classics, so they won’t go obsolete. Or you could say they’re already obsolete --like being pre-shrunk

[tdp]

Thanks for bringing this set of incredible photographs back to the top of the pile.

[Zerlina]

Thanks a lot for these pics!!!:)

[pianoman11686]

http://wirednewyork.com/images/nycbw/045.jpg

Castles in the Sky. This might be the most romantic picture of New York, ever.

As much as I hate to admit it, Downtown was more breathtaking and iconic before the Modernist boxes started filling in the gaps; it was only partly ameliorated by the arrival of the Twin Towers. It must've been quite a sight to see AIG, 40 Wall, and 20 Exchange soar above everyone else so majestically (and from another perspective, Woolworth).

Also, I think we should be thankful that, despite the many Beaux-Arts and other gems that we lost, New York still has more than its fair share of historic beauties, owing to the sheer scale of construction at the beginning of last century. That being said, which loss was greater - Singer, or Savoy-Plaza?

[TREPYE]

Great assembly ablarc. Thanks for reminding us this was here as some of these shots are just classic old New York. Very cool to see Gothic, Beaux-Art, Art Deco dominate the Skyline as opposed to Modernism boxes.

I must say that looking at the Singer building was kind hard to get through. It boils me up that those mo'f-ers actually had the gall to knock down such a beauty. Scumbags! How come they couldn't built that POS liberty plaza a block away I'm sure the space was available. Why was that spot so important to these vultures that they had to go out of their way to knock the Singer Building down?!?!

Sorry, I had to get that out of my system... Once again great job ablarc. Thanks.

My favorite shot:
http://wirednewyork.com/images/nycbw/161.jpg

[ablarc]

As much as I hate to admit it, Downtown was more breathtaking and iconic before the Modernist boxes started filling in the gaps; it was only partly ameliorated by the arrival of the Twin Towers. It must've been quite a sight to see AIG, 40 Wall, and 20 Exchange soar above everyone else so majestically (and from another perspective, Woolworth).
http://wirednewyork.com/images/nycbw/047.jpg

http://wirednewyork.com/images/nycbw/059.jpg

http://wirednewyork.com/images/nycbw/103.jpg

http://wirednewyork.com/images/nycbw/120.jpg

http://wirednewyork.com/images/nycbw/144.jpg

http://wirednewyork.com/images/nycbw/186.jpg

Greeted by the craggy, majestic Andes. Now it's Table Mountain.

No wonder they go to Bayonne.

[lofter1]

When Romance Ruled ^^^

[TREPYE]

^^..... and architects had a little more dignity in their products.

[ManhattanKnight]

http://wirednewyork.com/images/nycbw/186.jpg

No wonder they go to Bayonne.

This Queen's dead (along with the skyline that once greeted her), but tomorrow her successor, QE2, will be making a now-rare visit to the West Side Manhattan piers. She's due in from Southampton sometime before 8:00 a.m. and scheduled to sail for Newport and Canada at 5:00 p.m.

[ablarc]

^^..... and architects had a little more dignity in their products.
Besides that, it's also demand for large floor plates combined with zoning's FAR requirements. That yields squat, fat buildings that mostly rise to a plateau.

[TREPYE]

Besides that, it's also demand for large floor plates combined with zoning's FAR requirements. That yields squat, fat buildings that mostly rise to a plateau.

They could have accomplished this by building taller not fatter. ;) :p

[ablarc]

Taller means more floors. More floors means smaller floors for the same square footage.

If you want big floor plates you build fat.

If you limit the total square footage with FAR, it also means short. That's what FAR is all about.

[TREPYE]

I knew that ablarc. I was just being facetious, as per the smiley faces next to my statement. :)

[ablarc]

^ Sorry. I apologize.

[Luca]

one word: thanks.

[Derek2k3]

Thanks. I got to say if New York was preserved in amber after 1945, we'd have one of, if not the most beautiful city on the planet. If only modern architecture could be built with the same vigor as its predecessors.

[ablarc]

I got to say if New York was preserved in amber after 1945, we'd have one of, if not the most beautiful city on the planet. If only modern architecture could be built with the same vigor as its predecessors.
I get your point, but you know with the recent improvements in public squares (Bryant Park, Union Square, Times Square, Columbus Circle), the much cleaner streets, the gradual elimination of parking lots and the proliferation of small parks, you could say we still have one of the most beautiful cities on the planet. The new buildings may not be as good on the whole, but the public realm has been enhanced, I believe.

[LeCom]

Just spent half an hour taking in all the goodness, while sipping tea and listening to some good music.

[Capn_Birdseye]

What a great collection of pics!! Thanks.

[ablarc]

Thanks. I got to say if New York was preserved in amber after 1945, we'd have one of, if not the most beautiful city on the planet. If only modern architecture could be built with the same vigor as its predecessors.
Oh, I think there's plenty of vigor, but it's misplaced; when iconic it's often directed at making arbitrary and irrational sculptural shapes (BofA, IAC, Westin, even Hearst), rather than at enhancing expressively the shapes that buildings naturally assume (ESB, Savoy-Plaza).

[212]

Preach on, Brother Ablarc ...
BTW, everyone here should check out Ablarc's "streetwalls of Paris" at http://www.cyburbia.org/forums/showthread.php?t=16869

Question for you. Assuming that we want ...

- human scale and visual interest at street level
- a mountain range of a skyline, as we had half a century ago
- and also the big floor plates that so many of a world-class city's office tenants demand today

... how can architects and planners best respond? You've made convincing arguments about what worked in the Paris of 1880 and the NYC of 1940. Are there any recent urbanistic success stories for world-class cities that came about through planning? Links you can recommend?

I'm sensing that the answer involves
- some loosening of zoning regs, especially on height and mixed uses
- paired with very aggressive landmarking of existing buildings
- and hoping for some technological advances to make supertalls more economical here ...

[ablarc]

I'm sensing that the answer involves
- some loosening of zoning regs, especially on height and mixed uses
- paired with very aggressive landmarking of existing buildings
- and hoping for some technological advances to make supertalls more economical here ...
Wow, the quality of that list is A-1. The last one is perhaps the hardest to achieve because building codes have grown prescriptive enough to squelch innovation. So much is described in those weighty tomes that we have pretty muc arrived at a point where everything is illegal except what is specifically allowed.

The second will be unpopular with myopic developers who haven't figured out its benefits in the big system.

Most folks and all NIMBYs think tighter zoning is the only thing standing between us and utter chaos. What they don't realize is that in many places (not New York) the zoning is in fact a guarantor of that chaos.

[pianoman11686]

http://wirednewyork.com/images/nycbw/047.jpg

http://wirednewyork.com/images/nycbw/059.jpg

http://wirednewyork.com/images/nycbw/103.jpg

http://wirednewyork.com/images/nycbw/120.jpg

http://wirednewyork.com/images/nycbw/144.jpg

http://wirednewyork.com/images/nycbw/186.jpg

Greeted by the craggy, majestic Andes. Now it's Table Mountain.

I think it actually looks pretty good in this picture:

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/143/381891580_aaea6091d0_b.jpg

Josh Derr's photostream (http://www.flickr.com/photos/joshderr/)

[ablarc]

I think it actually looks pretty good in this picture
Yup.

Photographer up high, positioned so old slender towers dominate silhouette's crest, dusk obscures foreground's fat-ass banality.

There are photographers who could make Dick Cheney look virtuous.

[namvet3]

http://wirednewyork.com/images/nycbw/067.jpg

I was born one block over, 10th St. and Bleeker, and lived about 75' to the right of this building, at 89 Christopher St. until 1954. The wood siding was later brick, and it was a small grocery store, where I used to buy Camel cigarettes for my mother, .25 cents a pack. I also started smoking at 7. :eek: When the bus wasn't coming down Christopher St. I would sit right where that little boy is sitting, and watch the chain driven coal trucks and the ice delivery trucks, go by. Jesus, that's a long time ago.:(

[ablarc]

^ Evocative story, namvet3.


* * *

Some website must have posted a link to this thread; the hits are going through the roof.

Someone who knows: kindly tell me where all the hits are coming from. :)

[R.Lewis]

I have been enjoying looking at the many photos that "ablarc" had posted but today I tried to find them and could only find the captions. I am new to this forum so am still learning my way around it (its fascinating!) so would appreciate any pointers on how to find them again. Thanks.

R.Lewis

[ablarc]

^ R.Lewis, the images will be back after my server restores them. They're gone because the thread got so many hits that it exceeded my allowable bandwidth.

As for why that is: I don't know; all that activity is fairly recent. Someone must have posted a link on a popular website.

What led you to the thread, R.Lewis?

Can you tell me where you found a link?

[R.Lewis]

Glad to see the photos are back and that there was a logical reason for their being temporarily missing. I'm always interested in seeing more new old photos of NYC so I really love going through what you've posted. A lot of them are familiar to me as I also collect books on NY - especially those that have old views of the city. And I love discovering new shots of areas that I haven't seen before. I was directed to the site by a friend who knows of my interest in such things and after finding it, immeadiately joined up. I don't know how he found it though. BTW one of the photos in that series captioned as a view of Manhattan from NJ isactually a view from Governor's Island. It's looking down hill towards a ferry slip.

[ablarc]

BTW one of the photos in that series captioned as a view of Manhattan from NJ isactually a view from Governor's Island. It's looking down hill towards a ferry slip.
Yeah, thanks, it's this one:

http://wirednewyork.com/images/nycbw/103.jpg

Should have known. The ferry terminal and flanking buildings are still there, and I've been to Governors Island.

By the way, as long as we're correcting each other: there's no apostrophe in Governors Island. ;)



There's at least one additional error in the captions --a misidentified ship-- but I can't use the edit function to correct captions because there's now a ten picture limit per post, and the program then kicks out the entire post as having too many images!

I'd have to break up the post into about twenty parts to edit any part of it.

The intersection of technology and administration. :p

* * *

Can you ask your friend how he found the thread?

.

[R.Lewis]

Thanks for the correction. I realize the punctuation was wrong but must have put it in as a matter of habit for other possesives. I also recognized the view from a trip to the island some years ago though of course the building configuration is greatly changed. I'll ask about where he first found the site when I next see him. I've been browsing through the many notes and photos and it certainly is a treasure house of NYC visuals! Also find it interesting to see how many viewers there are from other countries.

[kz1000ps]

Oh my goodness! This is by far one of the greatest threads to ever exist in the short history of the internet. I should've been out the door at least a half hour ago but this has totally enraptured me. My head is shaking in disbelief at all the evocative pictures..

[mike_sc]

this thread deserves a bump

[TREPYE]

Oh my....how low NYC's skyline has sunk... beautiful distinguished spires, crowns drowned out by mindless corporate boxes of bulk.



http://wirednewyork.com/images/nycbw/103.jpg


http://www.hellonewyork.com/Images/Photos/972005Battery_Park_and_Downtown-sm.jpg

[mason127]

The photo captioned "Henry Hudson Parkway at 72nd St.: fancy interchange. Fairchild Aerial Surveys, 1937." is really 79th Street with what looks like the construction of the 79th Street Boat Basin.

What a wonderful collection of photos! Thanks to all concerned.

[ablarc]

The photo captioned "Henry Hudson Parkway at 72nd St.: fancy interchange. Fairchild Aerial Surveys, 1937." is really 79th Street with what looks like the construction of the 79th Street Boat Basin.
That's right, silly of me.

Thanks for the correction.

[pianoman11686]

A tiny blemish^ on an otherwise immaculate exhibition. :)

[rincony]

What a wonderful collection of old photos! I love this city so much. Thanks.

[saulber1]

These are all very historical and very unique pictures. Many could be viewed recently at the New York Historical Society and can often be viewed online, buit even so i am saving this page so that i may enjoy it in the future.

[bqephoto]

Nice collection on photos. I have some more recent ones on my web site, circa 1980-1990. www.bqephoto.com (http://www.bqephoto.com) It is interesting to see how the City is evolving. Dan

[sp5ive]

the sky shot over midtown incorrectly identifies St. Thomas church as the place of Jackie O's funeral. Jackie O was roman catholic. St. thomas church is an Episcopal Church. Her funeral was at a Catholic church further uptown.:)

[Audrie]

I am more than ever desirous of seeing this city. If the city itself has 1/10th the draw of those photos, i will be happy. A++++ job. Most of the crime fiction takes place in big cities and NY seems to be the biggest setting. So many of my favorite stars, writers, poets and artists live there I just have to see it. Thanks for sharing your wonderful vision.:):):)

[Joelio]

I would quote, but there were too many pictures so I couldn't be bothered to go through the whole thing and find the one picture.

But anyway, I'll admit felt a tang of sadness when I saw that pic by the original poster of West St back in 1885, when the World Trade Center hadn't even been thought of and it's terrible death was more than a hundred years away... :(

But great pictures, everybody. New York looked so elegant (and still does) while it was growing up! :cool:

(This is my 343rd post!! Remember the 9/11 firefighters!!)

[Merry]

Since this thread has been resurrected, thought I'd take another look. Never get tired of seeing old photos of New York's architectural heritage and sometimes feeling sad knowing something has been replaced, but often feeling elated by the knowledge that a lot of it is still there.

Thanks, Ablarc, for taking the considerable trouble to post them all.

http://wirednewyork.com/images/nycbw/120.jpg

Tower trio. Slender flattop is Irving Trust, tower at right now belongs to Trump.


If you're referring to the left-most tower, Ablarc, it's (formerly) City Bank Farmers Trust or 20 Exchange Place. The shorter tower to the right of 40 Wall (Trump) is Irving Trust. I'm sure you knew that.

[Joelio]

This is gonna sound really weird, but the city actually looks sexy in black and white... :D

[MidtownGuy]

That downtown skyline puts today's to shame.:(

[Joelio]

Yeah. The skyline from the 30s was impressive (and there's a great documentary about how they recreated it in the 3 disk edition of King King, you should check it out sometime if you can). All the different styles used and the absence of glass facade was very authentic, and must have looked incredible from the top of the Empire State Building. It's great that a lot of those old skyscrapers (Like the GE Building, the Woolworth Building, the Chrysler Building and, of course, the ESB, and many others) still exist among the skyline today.

But is it just me or do the taller skyscrapers in Downtown in these photos look a lot taller than they do these days? A lot of the new skyscrapers tower high above these ones, which makes all these old ones look very short, like the Woolworth Building.

[lofter1]

It's the slender tapering profiles -- plus the space around them -- that made them appear to rise forever. The bulkiness of newer buildings gives them a visual weight that roots them to the ground -- lots of mass, but not necessarily much upward thrusting energy, which is a hallmark of older NYC skyscrapers.

Plus when those classic NYC skyscrapers went up they were the tallest buildings in the world, and all together here in one place. They played off one another.

[Joelio]

It's the slender tapering profiles -- plus the space around them -- that made them appear to rise forever. The bulkiness of newer buildings gives them a visual weight that roots them to the ground -- lots of mass, but not necessarily much upward thrusting energy, which is a hallmark of older NYC skyscrapers.

Plus when those classic NYC skyscrapers went up they were the tallest buildings in the world, and all together here in one place. They played off one another.

Yeah, you're probably right. We need a new version of this picture:


http://wirednewyork.com/images/nycbw/120.jpg

Tower trio. Slender flattop is Irving Trust, tower at right now belongs to Trump.

Lofter, could you do that sometime? Or anyone else in New York? It'd be nice to get the comparison. And I'll give you a cookie... :D

[The Wordworker]

Looking at pics of some of New Yourk's lost jewels makes me just want to weep. But, overall, it was a fun tour through the decades. The greatest city in the world, in my humble opinion. Too bad it's such a chore to get there--thank God for that marvelous mass transit system!

[fonebone]

Hmm... I thought a black background might be interesting... I cleaned up some double posted photos from the end, moved everything to the centre and took the liberty of removing the slightly over the top footage of running horses, etc.

Hope this is satisfactory. Bit of a museum piece really...

http://www.wn100.plus.com/NewYorkB&W.htm <<< old url

-----

January 2009 update:

I moved house and we get cable here so I have a completely new internet setup. Therefore, the new url is:

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/graffiti/NewYorkB&W.htm

Since June 2007 the old url had 336 visits. Nice.

[Mohamed]

It was a amazing city and still

[ablarc]

Hmm... I thought a black background might be interesting... I cleaned up some double posted photos from the end, moved everything to the centre and took the Liberty of removing the over the top footage of running horses, etc.

Hope this is satisfactory. Bit of a museum really...

http://www.wn100.plus.com/NewYorkB&W.htm
Nice job.

[M3LC]

Does anyone know who I can contact about purchasing one or more digitals of these NY black&White photos for a project my company is working on? Please message me if this is possible, we are on a tight time line.
The pics we are interested in are Riverside Drive Viaduct, Pearl street 1942, and Lower Broadway 1899. Lots of Hats.
Please let me know asap.
Thanks

[Spellbound]

Thanks very much for posting these pics.....I've been looking at them for almost an hour -- it's like being in a time machine. Thanks so much for taking the time to do this. :)

[Pedersen]

Very nice pictures! What a change the city has gone throu over the years! :eek: :D

[Derek2k3]

You can see how the city is slowly rising. I was going to make a gif but...

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2160/1781737859_1a28b3b5d0_o.jpg
1957
vieilles_annonces (http://www.flickr.com/photos/vieilles_annonces/)

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2129/1781737867_6b8dd71e00_o.jpg
2007



http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2268/1782155109_5f15a28752_o.jpg


http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2033/1782170489_e39f3ecf32_o.jpg


http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2301/1782155123_cf0351d801_o.jpg

Is the best yet to come?

[The Ninja]

Outstanding pictures.

:)

[ablarc]

By comparing pictures in Derek's series you can observe the subtle transformation of MetLife's Beaux-Arts tower.

[Meerkat]

What fantastic pictures!

I love old photographs, these are wonderful.

[Derek2k3]

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2179/2108806831_e30f7bfed1_o.jpg
banstead (http://www.flickr.com/photos/12220922@N05/)
1971

Will be amazing to see this again.

[toma13]

Hi guys!
I'm French, my name is Thomas, I'm 27yo
I've been in NYC 3 times and it's always more and more exciting. I really love this city.
You could see some of the pics I made over there in October 2005 here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/toma13/

But I registered for one reason...I was totally amazed by the pictures in the first pages of this thread.
Unfortunately, it seems they disappeared...Are they about to be posted again or did I forget to save these masterpieces of history/architecture for ever??

Please, tell me they're gonna be back on the site soon...I really hope so
Thanks and keep posting...Ny, Ny, Big City of Dreams...

C ya guys

[ablarc]

^ The pics will be back up just as soon as I can figure out how to keep them from exceeding my allotted bandwidth.

Someone posted links to these pics that resulted in hundrerds of thousands of hits. This had the effect of shutting down my account with my server in spite of purchasing a lot of extra and expensive bandwidth. I finally had to take "New York in Black and White" off to keep everything else of mine from going down the drain along with it.

First I need to figure out how to accommodate all those hits, then I'll restore the thread.

Sorry ... and stay tuned.

[Derek2k3]

Some awesome b&w pics on this page.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/21925323@N03/

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2404/2116555347_674d05f9ab_o.jpg

[TREPYE]

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2042/2117335330_15abcdae52.jpg?v=0

Cool. No NYC towers do this no more. The only tower I have ever seen this done is the Place Ville-Marie (http://skyscraperpage.com/diagrams/?b937) in Montreal.

http://www.blork.org/mondaymorning/images/pvm-night.jpg

[Radiohead]

Ablarc, I look forward to seeing the pics again once you find a new host. In the meantime, here are some b/w pics that were on my hard drive. Hope they're not reposts.

1937
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2233/2038592983_4de3f226fc_o.jpg

1940's
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2028/2038593177_47e0da4b89_o.jpg

1940's
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2013/2039389234_f786a44ca2_o.jpg

Bowling Green 1914
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2156/1977169163_b83ef0b386_o.jpg
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2156/1977169163_6f235aa489.jpg

Same spot in 1974
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2314/1977994426_79b55c54e5_o.jpg
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2314/1977994426_1531cee86f.jpg

Park Row & St Paul's Chapel 1892
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2288/1989329862_3370fd1a3a_o.jpg
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2288/1989329862_abd1bca964.jpg

Same spot in 1974. I believe St Paul's is the oldest building in NYC, and thankfully survived the collapse of the WTC.
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2181/1989332162_840f7888c0_o.jpg
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2181/1989332162_f34e482844.jpg

Trinity Church cemetery 1890
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2097/1989325702_58b25e331b_o.jpg
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2097/1989325702_da18eca8be.jpg

Same spot 1974
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2174/1989531400_dcece620de_o.jpg
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2174/1989531400_f6352f55e7.jpg

[lofter1]

trolleys, trolleys everywhere :)

can't we get rid of the stupid automobile?

[Radiohead]

The decision to remove the trolley's in the late 40's & 50's was shortsighted incompetence on the part of many. At the time it was considered "progress" (i.e. finally got those damn trolleys out of the way, they were blocking the automobiles). Fast forward 50 years and they're talking about congestion charging to get the automobiles the hell out.

Simple solution. Bring back the trolleys. Who can afford to park in NYC anyway, much less deal with the traffic.

[pianoman11686]

Same thing happened to most American cities of note. At least New York was left with a legacy of extensive below-ground transport. Others weren't so lucky.

[Derek2k3]

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2206/2121410325_8fc10792bd_o.jpg
hercules323 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/hercules323/)

I guess this whole area was replaced by towers in the park.

[Alonzo-ny]

As much as i like tall New York, old low rise New York looks so amazing!

[garyjv]

I realize I'm a bit late for commenting on this, but then again, you posted this picture about 80 years after it was taken...

Just wanted to mention that the HMS Leviathan was not a cruise ship, plus it was decommissioned and dismantled in 1920, three years before you say this picture was taken. So, which ship could it be?

I was curious, so I checked, but I'm not sure how to figure out which ship it is.

http://wirednewyork.com/forum/../images/nycbw/029.jpg
"HMS Leviathan and Singer Building., 1923."

[ZippyTheChimp]

That ship is the SS Leviathan.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a8/SS_Leviathan_1913.jpg

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Leviathan

[brianac]

For those who have not seen this slide show.

http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2008/02/27/nyregion/20080227_RIIS_SLIDESHOW_index.html?partner=permali nk&exprod=permalink

[Radiohead]

For those who have not seen this slide show.

http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2008/02/27/nyregion/20080227_RIIS_SLIDESHOW_index.html?partner=permali nk&exprod=permalink

^Living conditions around the turn of the century were oftentimes horrid.


Here's some more old NY in B/W

582 Sixth Ave Looking SE
http://images.nypl.org/?id=1558012&t=w

Brick Presbyterian 5th Ave & 37th St; Late 1930s
http://images.nypl.org/?id=1557875&t=w

424 Fifth Ave at 38th St; Late 30s
http://images.nypl.org/?id=1557876&t=w

Fifth Ave & W 42nd St; Nov 11 1937(Armistice Day) You gotta love those cabs.

http://images.nypl.org/?id=1557919&t=w

Fifth Ave Looking North from 46th St; Around 1940
http://images.nypl.org/?id=1557936&t=w

677 Fifth Ave at 53rd St; Late 30's
http://images.nypl.org/?id=1557988&t=w

At Sixth Ave/ W 42nd St Elevated station; 1930's
http://images.nypl.org/?id=1558013&t=w

Street view of above station
http://images.nypl.org/?id=1558014&t=w

Radio City Music Hall 1930s
http://images.nypl.org/?id=1558056&t=w

RCMH interior during a 30's show
http://images.nypl.org/?id=1558055&t=w

Rockefeller Center construction 1930's
http://images.nypl.org/?id=1558058&t=w

[Radiohead]

Sixth Ave & 53rd St w/RC in the background; early 60s
http://images.nypl.org/?id=1558069&t=w

140 Eighth Ave; 1946
http://images.nypl.org/?id=1558082&t=w

Dairyman's League at Twelth Ave & W 48th St; 1940's
http://images.nypl.org/?id=1558125&t=w

E 15th St at Stuyvesant Square; 1920's
http://images.nypl.org/?id=1558132&t=w

E 27th St & Fourth Ave; June 11, 1924
http://images.nypl.org/?id=1558145&t=w

Kruskal Furs W 30th St & Seventh Ave
http://images.nypl.org/?id=1558146&t=w

Janice Shops 167 W 34th St; 1940's
http://images.nypl.org/?id=1558183&t=w

E 36th St & Madison Ave; 1940's
http://images.nypl.org/?id=1558189&t=w

E 40th St & Madison Ave; Razing building to make way for Murray Hill Bldg. Nov 1924
http://images.nypl.org/?id=1558206&t=w

Starting construction on MHB Jan 1925
http://images.nypl.org/?id=1558205&t=w

[Radiohead]

March 1925 construction progresses
http://images.nypl.org/?id=1558207&t=w

Hotel Tudor E 42nd St & Second Ave
http://images.nypl.org/?id=1558210&t=w

W 47th St & Fifth Ave; 1940's
http://images.nypl.org/?id=1558239&t=w

Midtown Hospital sundeck 305 E 49th St; 1940's
http://images.nypl.org/?id=1558242&t=w


View across Central Park Lake 1933
http://www.shorpy.com/files/images/5a18131u1_0.preview.jpg
http://www.shorpy.com/files/images/5a18131u1_0.jpg

City view from statue of Liberty 1901
Enlarge:CLICK TO ENLARGE (http://www.shorpy.com/files/images/3c19582u.jpg)
http://www.shorpy.com/files/images/3c19582u.preview.jpg

Fulton Street Market 1943
http://www.shorpy.com/files/images/8d29733u.preview.jpg
http://www.shorpy.com/files/images/8d29733u.jpg

1915 subway fire Broadway at W 55th St
http://www.shorpy.com/files/images/18116u.preview.jpg
http://www.shorpy.com/files/images/18116u.jpg

La Primadora Ccigar store Third Ave & 57th St; 1920
http://www.shorpy.com/files/images/22912u.preview.jpg


11th Avenue in 1911. Was called "Death Avenue" since many were killed by trains before the edvent of the automobile.
http://www.shorpy.com/files/images/02883u1.preview.jpg
http://www.shorpy.com/files/images/02883u1.jpg

[GVNY]

If anyone is interested, myself and a few other prominent individuals (like LoveCharlie later in the thread), have created what is quite possibly the most extensive and overwhelming collection of historic New York photographs on the internet.

If you find the first initial pictures to be small and rather worn from already plentiful views, be patient. Old Photographs New York (http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=34300) only becomes greater, more extraordinary with every passing page.

If you fail to cry, you lack a soul.

[GVNY]

For those who have not seen this slide show.

Jacob Riis' New York (http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2008/02/27/nyregion/20080227_RIIS_SLIDESHOW_index.html?partner=permali nk&exprod=permalink)

Indeed conditions were unforgivably deplorable, but what an exciting, intense and fierce time to be within New York, a teeming cornucopia of colours, languages, cultures, industries, and commerce.

[The Benniest]

Wow. Lots of history in this thread.

Thanks for these awesome pics Radiohead,
Ben

[Radiohead]

Thanks. I just added pics, but Ablarc posted the intial pics, so he deserves thanks as well for starting this thread.

PS I'll try to fix the dead links when I get a chance.

[brianac]

An Elaborate Stable Fit for a Vanderbilt

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2008/04/06/realestate/06scap-600.jpg New York Public Library
FOR HORSES AND HUMANS The dormers of the Vanderbilt stable at 44 East 58th Street were decorated with three dogs sculptured by Edward Kemeys.

By CHRISTOPHER GRAY (http://query.nytimes.com/search/query?ppds=bylL&v1=CHRISTOPHER GRAY&fdq=19960101&td=sysdate&sort=newest&ac=CHRISTOPHER GRAY&inline=nyt-per)
Published: April 6, 2008

There is a beautifully sharp image of this remarkable building at the New York Public Library (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/n/new_york_public_library/index.html?inline=nyt-org). Although the photograph was taken after 1916, when the stable was converted to a nightclub, it shows in excellent detail the French Renaissance styling of the two-story building, built in 1880 for Cornelius Vanderbilt II.
Its architect, George B. Post, also designed Vanderbilt’s house on Fifth Avenue from 57th to 58th Streets, where Bergdorf Goodman is now, and it generally matches that work, executed in red brick and limestone.

The image shows intricate leaded glass in the windows, a shield bearing the date 1880 and another bearing the Vanderbilt coat of arms, and delicate limestone decoration around the dormers. At the top of three dormers, above the windows, are Mr. Kemeys’s three dogs. The bloodhound looks particularly sad and droopy.

An article in The New York Sun of 1880 praised the sculptures and said, “So much action, grace and fidelity to nature were never seen in the architectural ornamentation of a stable.”

It described the stable’s interior as looking “like a Moorish temple,” with a central atrium open to a skylight, columns of ornamental brass, figured terra cotta and silver-plated stall hardware.

In 1916, the Vanderbilts turned the building into a nightclub, with the main entrance in what had been the carriageway.

Two years later, what was called the Club de Vingt placed an advertisement in The New York Times offering daily tea dances and an exhibition by a Japanese dancer called Itow.

In 1927, the Vanderbilt mansion was demolished, and in 1929 the old stable was converted to the Plaza (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/p/plaza_hotel/index.html?inline=nyt-org) Theater. It survived into the 1980s, and patrons may recall the peculiar sloping walkway to the basement. That was the old horse ramp.

E-mail: streetscapes@nytimes.com

Copyright 2008 The New York Times.

[brianac]

The Engineers’ Building

By CHRISTOPHER GRAY (http://query.nytimes.com/search/query?ppds=bylL&v1=CHRISTOPHER GRAY&fdq=19960101&td=sysdate&sort=newest&ac=CHRISTOPHER GRAY&inline=nyt-per)
Published: April 6, 2008

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2008/04/04/realestate/06scap-500.jpgCassier's Magazine/Library of Congress
The Engineering Societies' Building at 25 West 39th Street was photographed in 1907.

This majestic work was built in 1907 as the Engineering Societies’ Building, a $1.5 million gift from Andrew Carnegie (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/c/andrew_carnegie/index.html?inline=nyt-per) who wanted various engineering groups to establish a joint professional center.
They chose an old brownstone block just south of the future home of the New York Public Library. Hale & Rogers, with Henry G. Morse, designed a massive limestone and brick facade of 13 stories, 218 feet in height.

It had club rooms for three major engineering disciplines — electrical, mechanical and mining — as well as a floor for groups like the Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers. They all shared a 1,000-seat auditorium, lecture and assembly rooms and what The American Architect and Building News magazine called the “crowning detail,” a double-height library on the 12th and 13th floors.

That journal, like many others, had long railed against the common practice of leaving the sides of buildings in absolutely plain brick, and it praised the “Aeropolitan dignity” of the wall on the Fifth Avenue side, decorated as if it were a principal facade.

As Carnegie intended, the building became a center for the profession. In 1908, Maj. George O. Squier of the United States Signal Corps said in a lecture there that airplanes would never become offensive weapons. But he predicted bomb-carrying dirigibles, capable of speeds of up to 75 miles per hour, would descend on targets under cover of darkness.

In 1911, the astronomer Percival Lowell stated that there was definitely life on Mars, and he added that the Martians had a lot more reason to doubt life on Earth than vice versa.

The Engineering Societies left their building in 1961, and it was converted to office space. It is now the headquarters of Thor Equities, Joseph Sitt’s real estate investment group.

E-mail: streetscapes@nytimes.com

Copyright 2008 The New York Times.

[brianac]

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2008/04/09/nyregion/09lens-650.jpg
Fred R. Conrad/The New York Times

On Ellis Island, a giant autoclave was used to disinfect the mattresses of tuberculosis victims in the hospital on the south end of the island, where 700 beds awaited ill would-be immigrants. The hospital closed along with the rest of the immigration center in 1954, but it has not been restored and is closed to the public.

Copyright 2008 The New York Times.

[MidtownGuy]

Riverside Drive Viaduct, taken last October:

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2288/2444987644_ff5f287e17_b.jpg

[The Benniest]

Absolutely beautiful MidtownGuy.

You have a gift in photography. :cool:

[MidtownGuy]

Lol, that's kind but I'm just a point and click guy. My technical knowledge of photography is embarrassing and so is my camera. I don't even own a tripod. Utter amateur hour. I'm good with color, light and composition because of my art background but I wouldn't know how to handle a real camera.:o
At least not yet...I'll have one some day, with an awesome zoom, etc.

[brianac]

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2008/05/07/nyregion/lens650.jpgFred R. Conrad/The New York Times

The "eggs," or digesters, at the Newtown Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant in Brooklyn are going into operation. Each tank is 140 high and 80 feet wide. The eight steel eggs weigh about two million pounds apiece when empty, and it has been calculated that one may weigh up to 32 million pounds when it is processing waste. Two began running late last week; the remainder are expected to be at work by year’s end.

Copyright 2008 (http://www.nytimes.com/ref/membercenter/help/copyright.html)The New York Times Company (http://www.nytco.com/)

[brianac]

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2008/05/27/nyregion/28lens_450.jpg
Fred R. Conrad/The New York Times

Looking through the counterscarp gallery at Fort Tompkins on Staten Island. In this 19th-century fortification, opposing walls, the scarp and counterscarp, are faced with granite and have rifle slits in them, enabling the fort’s troops to create a cross-fire to fend off attackers in the ditch between the walls.

Copyright 2008 (http://www.nytimes.com/ref/membercenter/help/copyright.html) The New York Times Company (http://www.nytco.com/)

[The Benniest]

Lol, that's kind but I'm just a point and click guy. My technical knowledge of photography is embarrassing and so is my camera. I don't even own a tripod. Utter amateur hour. I'm good with color, light and composition because of my art background but I wouldn't know how to handle a real camera.:o
At least not yet...I'll have one some day, with an awesome zoom, etc.
Lol. Not to worry. I don't own a tripod, and I'm going into graphic design and photography. Should I be worried? :p For me, it's just a hassle. When I was taking photography classes at school, I borrowed a tripod for just one night when I wanted to get a over-night shot, and getting it from and to school was annoying as hell.

Having a small camera, like myself (although I have a large one as well), can also take some amazing photographs as well. I use to use a Sony Cybershot (7.2 MP) all the time, and even took it to NY in March, and I still love it. And from what I've seen you taking with your small Kodak camera, you're the same way.

Keep 'em coming. :)

[Alonzo-ny]

Camera and tripod doesnt make the photographer. Any idiot can buy both of those, a good photographer should see the opportunities that the average person doesnt.

[brianac]

Streetscapes | Readers' Questions

An Artistic Subway Station Meant to Quiet Grumblers

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2008/06/01/realestate/600-scap-01-span.jpg New York Transit Museum
The Herald Square station of the Sixth Avenue elevated line, in 1890, by Jasper Cropsey.

By CHRISTOPHER GRAY (http://query.nytimes.com/search/query?ppds=bylL&v1=CHRISTOPHER GRAY&fdq=19960101&td=sysdate&sort=newest&ac=CHRISTOPHER GRAY&inline=nyt-per)
Published: June 1, 2008

Q What was the structure at the far end of the old photograph of West 18th Street, published on Jan. 27 with the Streetscapes column about that street? ... Glen Reynolds, New Milford, Conn.
A It was one of a series of astonishingly artistic stations for the Sixth Avenue elevated railroad designed by the Hudson River School painter Jasper Cropsey.


The elevated line was bitterly opposed, and in 1878, Appleton’s Journal noted that owners and businesses along the route foresaw noise, gloom and cinders — “a monstrous infringement upon their inalienable rights.”

Protest meetings slowed construction of the line, but the Metropolitan Elevated Railroad Company had a secret plan: It hired Jasper Cropsey to design its 14 stations, to “quiet the remaining grumblers” forever, as Appleton’s put it.

Cropsey was trained as an architect and began his career in that field in 1842, but soon put it aside to pursue painting, especially picturesque landscapes.

In the 1860s, he again took up architecture and in early 1878 was selected to design the stations, at a fee of $200,000, along the elevated line.

He produced designs for heavily detailed iron stations that had much in common with a “Swiss villa,” as Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper put it in April 1878.

With peaked roofs topped by lacy ironwork and extensive use of Eastlake-style scrollwork, these were the 19th-century counterparts of the ambitious transportation works of our own time, like Santiago Calatrava (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/c/santiago_calatrava/index.html?inline=nyt-per)’s original design for the PATH station in Lower Manhattan (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/classifieds/realestate/locations/newyork/newyorkcity/manhattan/?inline=nyt-geo). According to most accounts, the Cropsey stations were painted a delicate olive green.
The line opened in June 1878 and was soon so crowded that passengers could not even board some trains.

But the architecture had done little to quiet the “grumblers.” A letter in The New York Times in June, signed “Vindex,” described the noise as “simply unbearable;” another, signed “Justitia,” called it a “deafening roar.”

According to an article in an 1884 issue of The Manhattan magazine, Cropsey’s name had been cast in the metal plate at the foot of each staircase. Apparently, none of the plates survived the demolition of the Sixth Avenue line, which was gone by 1940.

E-mail: streetscapes@nytimes.com

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/01/realestate/01scap-001.html?_r=1&ref=realestate&oref=login

Copyright 2008 (http://www.nytimes.com/ref/membercenter/help/copyright.html) The New York Times Company (http://www.nytco.com/)

[brianac]

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2008/06/04/nyregion/lens650.jpg
Fred R. Conrad/The New York Times

At the junction of three sections of Water Tunnel No. 3 under construction beneath Manhattan — at this point, 580 feet beneath Manhattan. This section of the tunnel is 10 feet in diameter. The project, to bring more drinking water to New York City, was authorized in 1954 and begun in 1970; several stages remain to be built.

Copyright 2008 (http://www.nytimes.com/ref/membercenter/help/copyright.html) The New York Times Company (http://www.nytco.com/)

[brianac]

http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z245/brianaclift/Others/UnionSq.jpg

New York, 1917. "Landship Recruit on Union Square." The U.S.S. Recruit, a wooden battleship erected by the Navy, served as a World War I recruiting station at Union Square from 1917 to 1920, when it "set sail" for Coney Island. This is the first in a series of photographs depicting life around and aboard the landlocked boat. 5x7 glass negative, George Grantham Bain Collection.

http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z245/brianaclift/Others/Dance.jpg

New York, 1917. "Aboard the Recruit." Our first glimpse of life on the "landship" U.S.S. Recruit, a wooden destroyer set up in Union Square as a Navy recruiting station. For our marooned sailors there was a phonograph, dancing and a pet goat. 5x7 glass negative, George Grantham Bain Collection.

http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z245/brianaclift/Others/Mascot.jpg

New York, 1917. "Mascots aboard Recruit." Furry/feathery companions for sailors on the "landship" in Union Square. G.G. Bain Collection.

[ManhattanKnight]

United States Navy Recruiting Office, Early 1914
http://img401.imageshack.us/img401/6941/74059821js9.jpg



While it may surprise some today to discover that the U.S. government, during and shortly after World War One, believed that its military recruiting efforts would be advanced not only by erecting a wooden battle wagon in the middle of Union Square but by staffing it with a crew of exceptionally friendly sailors and pets, few at the time would have been surprised or shocked by these photos. Sailors have probably always been sailors, and the United States freely introduced homoerotic imagery and messages into naval (and other miltary) recruiting posters issued during those years. By the early 1920s, the government's first major anti-homosexual/entrapment campaign (wierdly led by then-Assistant Navy Secretary Franklin D. Roosevelt) was underway, and homoerotic imagery is all but unknown in military recruiting posters from the Second World War.

U.S. Naval and Other Recruitng Posters, ca. 1918

http://img294.imageshack.us/img294/8379/1hxx9.jpg




http://img252.imageshack.us/img252/5338/2hra9.jpg

http://img389.imageshack.us/img389/1662/5hqv9.jpg

http://img239.imageshack.us/img239/1369/poster39ahi8.jpg




http://img150.imageshack.us/img150/9257/7hex6.png

http://img501.imageshack.us/img501/8585/8hwc0.jpg

http://img264.imageshack.us/img264/8476/9hej6.jpg

World War Two: All Fun Gone

http://img237.imageshack.us/img237/1386/10hfe8.jpg


*****

[brianac]

An aerial shot of Manhattan by Richard and John Buckham.

From a set of photographs in The Daily Telegraph.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk:80/news/2123426/Alfred-G-Buckham-aerial-photos.html

[NYatKNIGHT]

MK, cool to see the source of your avatar.

[bobtows9]

the sky shot over midtown incorrectly identifies St. Thomas church as the place of Jackie O's funeral. Jackie O was roman catholic. St. thomas church is an Episcopal Church. Her funeral was at a Catholic church further uptown.:)

I believe her funeral was at St Patricks Cathedral

[bobtows9]

the sky shot over midtown incorrectly identifies St. Thomas church as the place of Jackie O's funeral. Jackie O was roman catholic. St. thomas church is an Episcopal Church. Her funeral was at a Catholic church further uptown.:)

I gave you the incorrect info onJackie O's Funeral It was held at St Ignatius Loyoal R/C Church Not at St Pat's

[MetHistory]

Very, very impressive group of images. Very few credit lines, indeed almost none, so they must all be the property of the poster. That's quite a job of collecting. Rivals - even exceeds - Library of Congress, Museum of the City of New York, New-York Historical Society, and others.

Christopher Gray

[Radiohead]

Very, very impressive group of images. Very few credit lines, indeed almost none, so they must all be the property of the poster. That's quite a job of collecting. Rivals - even exceeds - Library of Congress, Museum of the City of New York, New-York Historical Society, and others.

Christopher Gray

Christopher,
A very, very impressive bit of sarcasm. I would think you'd have better things to do than attack those who merely wish to post and view vintage images of New York on this forum. Since this is neither a college thesis nor a for-profit endeavor, I wouldn't think credit lines would be a big issue with anybody.

Sorry if it hurts your book sales, Mr Gray. If you own copyright on any of the images, PM the poster and I'm sure they will be taken down.

[vgdc]

Great collection of photographs.

But an error noted: See Rockefeller Center 1937 reference to St. Thomas Church on the left.
Indeed that is St. Thomas Church [Episcopal] on Fifth Avenue at 53rd street. But Jackie O worshiped at St. Thomas More Church [Roman Catholic] on east 89th Street and the funeral was at St. Ignatius Loyola on east 84th street.

[joe25]

Thank you sir, for taking time out of your day to share these incredible pictures.

[brunnette10]

Those pictures are amazing, it was great of the OP to take the time to post them.:)

[nyjemz]

this was a simply stunning collection of photos of "old" new york!
i loved being able to recognize some of the things that remain the same, especially the decker building in union square.
thanks so much for taking the time to put this together!:)

[antinimby]

1932 - Bryant Park on the right with Stern's department store across 42nd St. on the left before it was replaced by the W.R. Grace building.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3026/2610857483_331cfcf69f_b.jpg
eralsoto (http://flickr.com/photos/8534413@N03/2610857483/sizes/l/in/set-72157605812664251/)

[NYC4Life]

Great photo. Bryant Park itself has not changed much over the decades.

[John P Robinson]

brilliant work!!!!
I'm so glad you took the time to share your photo's with the world:)

I've only been to New York once last year to see our new grandson in Manhattan :)

What can I say the people the city and our grandson were all fabulous.

[malibas]

Great assembly ablarc. Thanks for reminding us this was here as some of these shots are just classic old New York. Very cool to see Gothic, Beaux-Art, Art Deco dominate the Skyline as opposed to Modernism boxes.

I must say 1 (http://forums.sjgames.com/member.php?u=26929) that looking at the Singer building was kind hard to get through. It boils me up that those mo'f-ers actually had the gall to knock down such a beauty. Scumbags! How come they couldn't built that POS liberty plaza a block away I'm sure the space was available. Why was that spot so important to these vultures that they had to go out of their way to knock the Singer Building down?!?!

Sorry, I had to get that out of my system... Once again great job ablarc. Thanks.

My favorite shot:
http://wirednewyork.com/images/nycbw/161.jpg
I have this photo on calendar :)

[Derek2k3]

Great pool. Lots more photos in the link.
eratsoto (http://flickr.com/photos/8534413@N03/sets/72157605812664251/)

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3174/2725899598_c82a8c71ca_b.jpg


http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2318/2643040183_2f1bae6055_b.jpg


http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3014/2611060454_29763e1017_b.jpg


http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3271/2639246599_277ea42e69_b.jpg


http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3012/2605854398_c6774d179a_b.jpg


http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3093/2610857416_7810b32e7a_b.jpg


http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3244/2610102507_21e6032b52_b.jpg


http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3147/2610377617_de4ab0df73_b.jpg

[Derek2k3]

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3094/2742811327_b2996d1880_b.jpg


http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3134/2744154715_6426c1e02a_b.jpg

eratsoto

[The Benniest]

Here are just a few pictures I've converted to black and white from my recent trip in July. There will be many more to come when all of this college/moving stuff settles down. I'm sorry for the wait.

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y290/benthal/apartment-bw-1.gif

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y290/benthal/brooklyn-bridge-bw.gif

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y290/benthal/gay-st.gif


Enjoy...

ben

[scumonkey]

Yo Ben...I think you short changed yourself when you converted!!
Your pics are sweet so, I took a moment to re image them a little for you. Hope you likes? if not I'll remove them.
http://i211.photobucket.com/albums/bb276/scumonkey/building.jpg

http://i211.photobucket.com/albums/bb276/scumonkey/b-1.jpg
(And My Favorite)
http://i211.photobucket.com/albums/bb276/scumonkey/gaySt.jpg

[The Benniest]

Thank you monkey. :cool: I'm still trying to get used to converting, because black and white photography is one of my absolute favorites.

Thanks again..

ben

[scumonkey]

Good rule to Remember when working in black and white:
Contrast, Contrast, Contrast! ;)

[brianac]

Here Today, but Maybe Not Tomorrow

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/packages/images/photo/2008/08/10/081008-Manhattanville/24250631.JPG
In 2002, Stephen A. Scheer set out to photograph Manhattanville, the area between 125th and 133rd Streets and bordered by the Riverside Drive viaduct and the elevated subway on Broadway. The next year, Columbia University announced a plan to buy a huge swath of the gritty neighborhood to expand its campus. Thus, although it was not his intention, Mr. Scheer's work may come to be the last depiction of Manhattanville in its current form. This image is of the underside of the Riverside Drive viaduct, taken from 12th Avenue and St. Clair Place.
Photo: Stephen A. Scheer

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/packages/images/photo/2008/08/10/081008-Manhattanville/24261109.JPG
The New York City Transit Authority bus depot and Riverside Park Community Apartments, from 12th Avenue and West 132nd Street.
Photo: Stephen A. Scheer

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/packages/images/photo/2008/08/10/081008-Manhattanville/24250821.JPG
The West Market Diner at West 131st Street near 12th Avenue.
Photo: Stephen A. Scheer

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/packages/images/photo/2008/08/10/081008-Manhattanville/24250907.JPG
The Harlem Bait and Tackle shop, at 12th Avenue near 131st Street.
Photo: Stephen A. Scheer

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/packages/images/photo/2008/08/10/081008-Manhattanville/24261547.JPG
A view of tenements and Riverside Church, as seen from the platform of the subway station at West 125th Street.
Photo: Stephen A. Scheer

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/packages/images/photo/2008/08/10/081008-Manhattanville/24261697.JPG
An incoming train, as seen from the subway platform at West 125th Street.
Photo: Stephen A. Scheer

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/packages/images/photo/2008/08/10/081008-Manhattanville/24251735.JPG
The Broadway viaduct and the subway station at West 125th Street.
Photo: Stephen A. Scheer

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/packages/images/photo/2008/08/10/081008-Manhattanville/24252015.JPG
The Broadway viaduct, and the Manhattanville Houses at West 131st Street.
Photo: Stephen A. Scheer

http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2008/08/09/nyregion/081008-Manhattanville_index.html

Copyright 2008 (http://www.nytimes.com/ref/membercenter/help/copyright.html) The New York Times Company (http://www.nytco.com/)

[smellslikeabid]

What an awesome thread. I love looking at old new york! It doesny matter how old or new the pics are, they seem to encapture the feel of new york (if you know what i mean) and i love the reoccuring Coca cola adverts covering every era!

[Alonzo-ny]

http://www.flickr.com/photos/library_of_congress/

some great old pics here!

[topcop72]

When the city was a city and not what it is today. Ugly structures with no sweat or soul.

[tiriri]

Any link to get these images in high resolution?

Thanks!

[debannes]

Loved the pic I always wished that I was around when they had the Easter prade I wish we all can put on our big hats and walk down 5 ave wouldn't you just love it well I know some will.

[mar4ela]

Amazing!!!11 :eek: I want go to New York :o

[Alonzo-ny]

Please dont quote massive posts when there is no need.

[Radiohead]

Lofter commented in another thread that he loves NYC in black & white, and I concur. B/W photos from pre-war NY are the true classics, but even recent photos like these below have a timeless quality of their own. Courtesy of Zach K(Flickr)

Smoke break
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2300/2283865124_e801fc0e76_o.jpg

Bridge Apartments over Trans Manhattan Expressway
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2419/2259014547_2b07327a5b_o.jpg

Liberty & Nassau
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2226/2136613859_f0309fd5ee_b.jpg

Broken fashion plates
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2327/2116274019_6707b0d142_b.jpg

Down & out
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2003/2115503764_96d2e0c255_o.jpg

Slow day
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2168/1846461919_d94398b493_o.jpg

In your face marketing in Chinatown
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2216/1812417096_702fb733c6_o.jpg

Office on the street
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2088/1681460123_59bf374e29_o.jpg

Flatiron district
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2266/1538625706_4fe881d7db_o.jpg

Neglect in East Harlem
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2267/1520180754_4bffff74a1_o.jpg

[NYC4Life]

There's somethig in these black and photos that speak of true NYC life.

[brianac]

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2008/12/09/nyregion/jhny01.480.jpgPhotographs by James Hill/The New York Times

A metal palm tree, above, added a touch of optimism to a bright but deserted beach at Coney Island on a November day.

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2008/12/09/nyregion/jhny10.480.jpgPhotographs by James Hill/The New York Times

Strong sunlight in the late afternoon of a different day brought long shadows to the Manhattan terminal of the Staten Island Ferry.

http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/12/09/passport-coney-island-and-si-ferry/

Copyright 2008 (http://www.nytimes.com/ref/membercenter/help/copyright.html) The New York Times Company (http://www.nytco.com/)

[lofter1]

When I first came to NYC back in the dark days of the early 1970s the entire city seemed to be built in black and white -- asphalt streets, concrete sidewalks, soot-covered bricks, grimy limestone, dust bowls in Central Park, hot hazy summer skies ...

[Merry]

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2008/12/26/nyregion/26139163.JPG
A house on 34th Avenue and Brookside Street, Douglas Manor, Queens, 2004.

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2008/12/26/nyregion/26139165.JPG
A gnarled tree on 85th Avenue between 165th Street and Chapin Parkway, Jamaica Hills, Queens, 2003.

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2008/12/26/nyregion/26139167.JPG
Mott Street and Point Breeze Place, Edgemere, Queens, 2003.

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2008/12/26/nyregion/26139177.JPG
A view of Jamaica Bay, from Beach 72nd Street and Bayfield Avenue, Somerville, Queens, 2003.

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2008/12/26/nyregion/26139171.JPG
46-71 Laburnam, Flushing - Queens, NY 2003.

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2008/12/26/nyregion/26139173.JPG
A gate on Brookville Boulevard, near Thurston Basin in Rosedale, Queens, 2004.

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2008/12/26/nyregion/26139175.JPG
A house on 54th Street, between Grand and Flushing Avenues, Maspeth, Queens, 2004.

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2008/12/26/nyregion/26139181.JPG
A house on 27th Avenue, near 100th Street, Jackson Heights, Queens, 2003.

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2008/12/26/nyregion/28queens.jpg
A driveway on 85th Avenue, near 165th Street, Jamaica Hills, Queens, 2003.

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2008/12/26/nyregion/26139183.JPG
The front door of a house on Laburnum Avenue, Flushing, Queens, 2003.

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2008/12/28/nyregion/thecity/28CITYVISIBLE.SPAN.jpg
27th Ave., Jackson Heights, Queens, N.Y., 2003

December 28, 2008
The City Visible

Little Boxes, Transformed by the Years

By BONNIE YOCHELSON

HUNG throughout Powdermaker Hall, the social sciences building at Queens College (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/q/queens_college/index.html?inline=nyt-org), are 58 framed photographs by Frank Gohlke and Joel Sternfeld, nearly a third of them 4 feet by 5 1/2 feet in size. The photographs, of street scenes in Queens, are a result of the city’s Percent for Art law, which requires that 1 percent of the budget for eligible city-funded construction projects be spent on artwork.

Designed by Mitchell/Giurgola Architects, Powdermaker Hall was completed in 2004. Donald Scott, then dean of social sciences, was eager to commission for the building art that would complement its academic purpose and reflect the lives of the college’s students, 85 percent of them Queens natives.

Diane Shamash, founder of Minetta Brook, a foundation devoted to public art, suggested that Mr. Gohlke and Mr. Sternfeld, two acknowledged masters of American landscape photography, would be eminently suited to the task.

Although Mr. Sternfeld works in color and Mr. Gohlke in black and white, they share an abiding fascination with the visible traces of everyday life on the landscape, and Queens presented them with an exciting challenge. For nearly two years, they traveled the borough, a microcosm of America’s ethnic diversity in which postwar neighborhoods have been transformed by new arrivals from every corner of the globe.

Mr. Gohlke circumnavigated the borough to examine the points at which it met the East River, Long Island and Brooklyn; he also explored its many parks. But much of the time, he said, “I drove around and let my eyes lead me.”

Walking around neighborhoods, he was often drawn to the borough’s omnipresent and seemingly nondescript single-family houses. By focusing on lovingly added modifications, such as ceremonial ironwork and geometrically cut shrubbery, Mr. Gohlke brings to the fore Queens’s more mundane architecture and the distinctive presence of its current residents.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/28/nyregion/thecity/28powd.html

[deezee]

[quote=Radiohead;264256]Lofter commented in another thread that he loves NYC in black & white, and I concur. B/W photos from pre-war NY are the true classics, but even recent photos like these below have a timeless quality of their own. Courtesy of Zach K(Flickr)

i couldn't agree more with both of you. this city's soul is in black and white as far as i'm concerned.

[ginnyfrog]

Im just a small town girl from long island n.y. and spent special occassions in manhattan growing up as a kid and was always awed by the city, but seeing its beginnings just takes my breath away. wish there were more photos. ginny :D

[nykid17]

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/191/3264741600_bacb94c3df_b.jpg

[brianac]

The Last El Train

Wednesday, March 25th 2009, 5:35 AM

http://assets.nydailynews.com/img/2009/03/25/alg_big_town.jpg
South from 59th St. , March 1952


http://assets.nydailynews.com/img/2009/03/25/amd_big_town.jpg
All aboard

New York (http://www.nydailynews.com/topics/New+York)’s elevated trains went back to before the Brooklyn Bridge (http://www.nydailynews.com/topics/Brooklyn+Bridge), before the Statue of Liberty (http://www.nydailynews.com/topics/Statue+of+Liberty), relics of a day when grandmother was a girl, and after a certain point they became deemed rustily creaking menaces to the public safety. And they were, after all, losing money anyway.

Thus, by mid-20th Century, the old Second, Sixth and Ninth Ave. els were but memories, abandoned and demolished and little mourned, the once-dark caverns beneath the hulking overhead trestles now flooded with sunshine. Finally, only the Third Ave. line still rattled along, from Chatham Square up to 149th St. in the Bronx (http://www.nydailynews.com/topics/The+Bronx), the avenue’s gin mills and junk shops still nestled in the familiar old shadows, rumbling with the deafening echoes of once upon a time.

Amid grand civic plans to brightly rehabilitate the entire East Side, a Third Ave. train made its final run on May 12, 1955, and the cutting torches went to work just two days later, and within a few months there was nothing left of New York’s els, vanished into history like the horsecars before them. Real estate interests were jubilant. “I just hope the avenue doesn’t become too expensive,” fretted one elderly woman who had lived under the el her whole life.

http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2009/03/25/2009-03-25_the_last_el_train.html

© 2009 Daily News


I only posted this for the photographs, not to start a debate about which was or is the last El.

[brianac]

March 30, 2009, 5:13 pm

1840s Daguerreotype Is Sold for $62,500

By Jennifer 8. Lee (http://wirednewyork.com/author/jennifer-8-lee/)

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2009/03/30/nyregion/daguerreotype-480.jpgSotheby’s
This daguerreotype, showing a country home along “a continuation of Broadway,” was likely taken in New York City, in October 1848 or earlier. It sold for $62,500 at a Sotheby’s auction.


Updated, 5:42 p.m. |

A photo believed to be one of the oldest ever taken in New York City was sold on Monday at Sotheby’s for $62,500 (http://www.sothebys.com/app/live/lot/LotDetail.jsp?lot_id=159525301) to a buyer who submitted the winning bid by phone, the auction house said. The pre-auction sales estimate was $50,000 to $70,000.

The winners were Billy and Jennifer Frist of Nashville. “It’s a very unique, historically significant daguerreotype,” said Mr. Frist, who has been collecting photos since 1993 and is a nephew of Bill Frist (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/f/bill_frist/index.html), the Tennessee Republican and former Senate majority leader.

The picture, believed to date from October 1848 or earlier, shows a white house on a hill with a white picket fence, next to what is believed to be the old Bloomingdale Road, the continuation of Broadway, in what is now the Upper West Side.

The photo was discovered at a small New England auction, and the date and location of the image were taken from a note that was folded and placed behind the daguerreotype plate in its original leather case. The note — misspelling the word “magnifying,” among other irregularities — is written in a neat, cursive hand, in dark ink on pale blue paper:
This view, was taken at too great a distance, & from ground 60 or 70 feet lower than the building; rendering the lower Story of the House, & the front Portico entirely invisible. (the handsomest part of the House.) The main road, passes between the two Post & rail fences. (called, a continuation of Broadway 60 feet wide.) It requires a maganifying glass, to clearly distinguish the Evergreens, within the circular enclosure, taken the last of October, when nearly half of the leaves were off the trees.
May 1849. L. B.
“It took a tremendous amount of research to establish where it was,” said Denise Bethel, director of the photography department at Sotheby’s New York. “The clue is the phrase ‘a continuation of Broadway.’ The owner thought the phrase ‘continuation of Broadway’ might indicate it was New York City. That was his best guess. We fanned out and did a lot of research to back him up.”

Bloomingdale Road, often referred to as “continuation of Broadway” in the city directories of the day, was one of two main roads that ran up and down the island in the 1700s. The other was Old Boston Road, which is where Park Avenue is now. Bloomingdale Road was named for the Bloemendael area, now the Upper West Side, and cut through hilly terrain in Midtown and Upper Manhattan, from Union Place to Manhattanville.

(The road name survived as the name of a restaurant (http://www.bloomingdaleroad.com/), recently closed, at West 88th and Broadway.)

The photo, whose creator is unknown, is unusual because it shows a bucolic scene at a time when daguerreotypes were still an experimental technology. Daguerreotypes, each of which is an in-camera positive image on a polished silvered metal plate, were very popular in the United States in the 1840s and 1850s (http://www.nytimes.com/1999/04/14/arts/the-photographic-treasures-of-a-secret-collector.html?sec=&spon=&pagewanted=1). They were generally indoor portraits due to the fickleness of weather and outdoor conditions. Early known daguerreotypes of New York City are rare, and those that exist usually focus on the urban setting of buildings in Lower Manhattan, such as Chatham Street (now Park Place) and City Hall Park. (http://www.nytimes.com/1992/08/02/realestate/streetscapes-lower-manhattan-rare-daguerrotype-raises-questions.html)

“There were so many studios in Manhattan, it has always been a mystery why we don’t have more outdoor daguerreotypes of New York City,” Ms. Bethel said. She said she suspected that such outdoor photos were made but that over time their identifying information was lost.

“If we did not have this note, we would simply not know it was New York City,” she said.

http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/03/30/1840s-daguerreotype-is-sold-for-62500/

Copyright 2009 (http://www.nytimes.com/ref/membercenter/help/copyright.html) The New York Times Company (http://www.nytco.com/)

[Derek2k3]

I'd be happier if the city was able to buy it and put it in one of its museums.

[brianac]

Brooklyn Heights

Trying to Recapture the Glory Days, Up in the Old Hotel

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2009/04/05/nyregion/05geor.span.jpg Long Island Historical Society
The Art Deco swimming pool where Truman Capote splashed away.

By CAROLINE H. DWORIN
Published: April 3, 2009

IN 1885, when Brooklyn was still an independent city, the St. George Hotel was rising on Clark Street, just steps from the East River. At 2,623 rooms, it would become the nation’s largest and grandest hotel. By the early 1930s, its new tower rose more than 30 stories.

Occupying an entire block of Brooklyn Heights, between Hicks, Henry, Clark and Pineapple Streets, the St. George was a beacon that attracted some of the brightest lights in American society.

During the hotel’s heyday, from the 1930s to the ’50s, F. Scott Fitzgerald (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/f/f_scott_fitzgerald/index.html?inline=nyt-per) raised a glass there, Presidents Truman and Roosevelt spent the night, and Truman Capote (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/c/truman_capote/index.html?inline=nyt-per) swam regularly in its Olympic-size salt-water pool below a grand mirrored ceiling. Celebrities and socialites danced in the Colorama ballroom, illuminated with about 1,000 multicolor bulbs.

But by the 1960s, the St. George’s popularity as an opulent destination had waned. Many of the hotel’s rooms were empty, and the place fell into a long period of disrepair. In 1984, the pale-brick tower was converted to luxury co-ops.

FULL ARTICLE (http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/05/nyregion/thecity/05geor.html?_r=1&ref=thecity)

Copyright 2009 (http://www.nytimes.com/ref/membercenter/help/copyright.html) The New York Times Company (http://www.nytco.com/)

[Merry]

New York at the beginning of the 1960s

http://www.wirednewyork.com/forum/picture.php?albumid=32&pictureid=129

http://www.wirednewyork.com/forum/picture.php?albumid=32&pictureid=128

http://www.wirednewyork.com/forum/picture.php?albumid=32&pictureid=126

http://www.wirednewyork.com/forum/picture.php?albumid=32&pictureid=132

http://www.wirednewyork.com/forum/picture.php?albumid=32&pictureid=124

http://www.wirednewyork.com/forum/picture.php?albumid=32&pictureid=123

http://www.wirednewyork.com/forum/picture.php?albumid=32&pictureid=122

http://www.wirednewyork.com/forum/picture.php?albumid=32&pictureid=121

http://www.wirednewyork.com/forum/picture.php?albumid=32&pictureid=120

http://www.wirednewyork.com/forum/picture.php?albumid=32&pictureid=119

http://www.wirednewyork.com/forum/picture.php?albumid=32&pictureid=118

http://www.wirednewyork.com/forum/picture.php?albumid=32&pictureid=117

http://www.wirednewyork.com/forum/picture.php?albumid=32&pictureid=116

http://www.wirednewyork.com/forum/picture.php?albumid=32&pictureid=110
Cowboy...

http://www.wirednewyork.com/forum/picture.php?albumid=32&pictureid=115
...girls reacting to cowboy

http://www.wirednewyork.com/forum/picture.php?albumid=32&pictureid=114

http://www.wirednewyork.com/forum/picture.php?albumid=32&pictureid=113

http://www.wirednewyork.com/forum/picture.php?albumid=32&pictureid=112

http://www.wirednewyork.com/forum/picture.php?albumid=32&pictureid=131

http://www.wirednewyork.com/forum/picture.php?albumid=32&pictureid=109

http://www.wirednewyork.com/forum/picture.php?albumid=32&pictureid=130

http://www.wirednewyork.com/forum/picture.php?albumid=32&pictureid=107

http://www.wirednewyork.com/forum/picture.php?albumid=32&pictureid=106

http://www.wirednewyork.com/forum/picture.php?albumid=32&pictureid=105

http://www.wirednewyork.com/forum/picture.php?albumid=32&pictureid=104

[brianac]

East River Drive

Updated Friday, April 10th 2009, 1:17 PM

http://assets.nydailynews.com/img/2009/04/08/alg_bigtown.jpg News
November 1939

http://assets.nydailynews.com/img/2009/04/08/amd_bigtown2.jpg News
March 1940

Eventually it would come to be known as the FDR, but honoree Franklin Roosevelt (http://www.nydailynews.com/topics/Franklin+D.+Roosevelt) was not yet deceased in 1934 when Master Builder Robert Moses (http://www.nydailynews.com/topics/Robert+Moses) began planning his latest Mosesean offering to the automobile gods, and the East River Drive was what it was called.

Originally the parkway ran just from 92nd Street to 125th, its chief purpose being to provide readier vehicular access to the Triborough Bridge (http://www.nydailynews.com/topics/Triborough+Bridge) despite the fact that there was no Triborough Bridge at the time; Moses was just efficiently planning ahead.

After that, this key piece of the Master's circumferential road system spent the next 30-odd years creeping southward in assorted stretches here and there to the Battery, much of it on landfill.

Order prints from our vast photo library at www.dailynewspix.com (http://www.dailynewspix.com)

http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2009/04/08/2009-04-08_east_river_drive.html

© 2009 Daily News, L.P.

[Merry]

A few more:

http://www.wirednewyork.com/forum/picture.php?albumid=32&pictureid=142

http://www.wirednewyork.com/forum/picture.php?albumid=32&pictureid=141

http://www.wirednewyork.com/forum/picture.php?albumid=32&pictureid=140

http://www.wirednewyork.com/forum/picture.php?albumid=32&pictureid=139

http://www.wirednewyork.com/forum/picture.php?albumid=32&pictureid=138

http://www.wirednewyork.com/forum/picture.php?albumid=32&pictureid=137

http://www.wirednewyork.com/forum/picture.php?albumid=32&pictureid=136

http://www.wirednewyork.com/forum/picture.php?albumid=32&pictureid=135

http://www.wirednewyork.com/forum/picture.php?albumid=32&pictureid=134

http://www.wirednewyork.com/forum/picture.php?albumid=32&pictureid=133

[AdrianaC]

This forum is amazing. I am from a different country and we will move to New York very soon. Nice to hear the history of New York here. Thanks.

I will be working in a big hotel in New York next month.


Simulation pret (http://simulationpretimmobilier.net)

[cityskyscrapers]

Scanned from my own collection of old photo negatives.

Strike of elevator workers, 1936.
http://www.oranga.com/pics1/scan8822.jpg

http://www.oranga.com/pics1/scan8826.jpg

http://www.oranga.com/pics1/scan8831.jpg

http://www.oranga.com/pics1/scan8823.jpg

http://www.oranga.com/pics1/scan8825.jpg

http://www.oranga.com/pics1/scan8829.jpg

http://www.oranga.com/pics1/scan8830.jpg

http://www.oranga.com/pics1/scan8827.jpg

http://www.oranga.com/pics1/scan8828.jpg

http://www.oranga.com/pics1/scan8824.jpg

New York City, 1936. Description: "Raises corn in roof garden. A determined amateur gardner produces a varied crop of fruits and vegetables in a complete 'farm' seventeen stories above the streets of Gotham. Corn grows tall and two dozen bunches of fine grapes swell the list."
http://www.oranga.com/pics1/scan8837.jpg

http://www.oranga.com/pics1/scan8838.jpg

http://www.oranga.com/pics1/scan8839.jpg

http://www.oranga.com/pics1/scan8840.jpg

http://www.oranga.com/pics1/scan8841.jpg

http://www.oranga.com/pics1/scan8842.jpg

[cityskyscrapers]

Scanned from my own collection of old photo negatives (and some slides).
Please not that these scans are not optimized or cleaned up with photo editing.

World Trade Center and Empire State Building.
http://www.oranga.com/pics1/scan8817.jpg

Aerial, around 1958.
http://www.oranga.com/pics1/scan8818.jpg

New York City, June 1939.
http://www.oranga.com/pics1/scan8843.jpg

Woolworth Building.
http://www.oranga.com/pics1/scan8855.jpg

East 37 st & 3rd Avenue, March 11, 1966.
http://www.oranga.com/pics1/scan8860.jpg

http://www.oranga.com/pics1/scan2301.jpg

http://www.oranga.com/pics1/scan2302.jpg

Pan Am building.
http://www.oranga.com/pics1/scan2305.jpg

http://www.oranga.com/pics1/scan2300.jpg

http://www.oranga.com/pics1/scan2311.jpg

Lower Manhattan and Singer Building, 1912.
http://www.oranga.com/pics1/scan3013.jpg

Brooklyn Bridge, Manhattan Bridge, ESB, Chrysler, 1937.
http://www.oranga.com/pics1/scan3014.jpg

Probably construction of new Federal Court Building, completed in 1936.
http://www.oranga.com/pics1/scan5506.jpg

March 11, 1927.
http://www.oranga.com/pics1/scan5507.jpg

Brooklyn Bridge, 1950/1951.
http://www.oranga.com/pics1/scan5508.jpg

1950/1951.
http://www.oranga.com/pics1/scan5509.jpg

Construction of ESB antenna, 1950/1951.
http://www.oranga.com/pics1/scan5510.jpg

Street scene and entrance Empire State Building.
http://www.oranga.com/pics1/scan4501.jpg

Part of Empire State Building.
http://www.oranga.com/pics1/scan4502.jpg

View on Lower Manhattan.
http://www.oranga.com/pics1/scan4503.jpg

Department store.
http://www.oranga.com/pics1/scan4508.jpg

View from Manhattan Municipal Building.
http://www.oranga.com/pics1/scan2265.jpg

Empire State Building.
http://www.oranga.com/pics1/scan6802.jpg

In the distance Singer Building and Woolworth Building.
http://www.oranga.com/pics1/scan6801.jpg

Metropolitan Life Insurance Company Tower, November 23, 1911.
http://www.oranga.com/pics1/scan6803.jpg

Construction Woolworth Building, 1912.
http://www.oranga.com/pics1/scan6808.jpg

http://www.oranga.com/pics1/scan6804.jpg

Singer Building and Woolworth Building.
http://www.oranga.com/pics1/scan6805.jpg

http://www.oranga.com/pics1/scan6806.jpg

Flatiron Building.
http://www.oranga.com/pics1/scan6807.jpg

The 40s.
http://www.oranga.com/pics1/scan2286.jpg

The 40s.
http://www.oranga.com/pics1/scan2287.jpg

The 40s.
http://www.oranga.com/pics1/scan2288.jpg

The 40s.
http://www.oranga.com/pics1/scan2290.jpg

The 40s.
http://www.oranga.com/pics1/scan2289.jpg

The 40s.
http://www.oranga.com/pics1/scan2285.jpg

View from Municipal Building.
http://www.oranga.com/pics1/scan2266.jpg

http://www.oranga.com/pics1/scan8805.jpg

http://www.oranga.com/pics1/scan8806.jpg

http://www.oranga.com/pics1/scan2206.jpg

http://www.oranga.com/pics1/scan2207.jpg

[cityskyscrapers]

All I see is white space!?!

Should be fixed now. Enjoy the photos!

[scumonkey]

INCREDIBLE!
Thank you :D

[KenNYC]

Those photos were amazing, both new and old.

[smuncky]

beautiful post! thanks!

[Prometheus]

Who knew the Fred French Building was home to so many dance studios in 1928?

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3660/3660515995_3d985920d7.jpg

The Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Station in The Chanin Building - I wonder what this space is now?

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2430/3660517117_ab9c2d081d_b.jpg

[OmegaNYC]

Here are some of my B&W. I'm no pro, so I hope you all enjoy:

http://i610.photobucket.com/albums/tt182/Omega0416/054.jpg

http://i610.photobucket.com/albums/tt182/Omega0416/052.jpg

http://i610.photobucket.com/albums/tt182/Omega0416/051.jpg

http://i610.photobucket.com/albums/tt182/Omega0416/046.jpg

http://i610.photobucket.com/albums/tt182/Omega0416/025.jpg

http://i610.photobucket.com/albums/tt182/Omega0416/019.jpg

http://i610.photobucket.com/albums/tt182/Omega0416/8efc8e88e55d4fe2add73f33d4593d7b.jpg

[Merry]

^ I really like the first two :). The detailing on Washington Square Arch seems much more clearly defined and prominent in black and white. Thanks Omega.

BTW: What's that white monstrosity to the right of the fountain in the third photo, with the four grey pointy things?

[Amberlicious7583]

http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e206/amberfaye1/86eb115d.jpg


http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e206/amberfaye1/3111de1b.jpghttp://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e206/amberfaye1/04815236.jpg

[Merry]

Just found this amazing view of Wall Street in 1878:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v280/tomasutpen/album4/wallstreet1878.jpg

http://tsutpen.blogspot.com/search/label/Old%20New%20York?updated-max=2008-02-19T00%3A12%3A00-05%3A00&max-results=20

http://tsutpen.blogspot.com/search/label/Old%20New%20York

[ablarc]

Terrific links!

[Merry]

From the New York Times Streetscapes article Where Lincoln Tossed and Turned (http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/27/realestate/27scapesready.html):

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2009/09/24/realestate/27scapes_lg.jpg
Astor House, built in 1836 and shown here in 1913, was designed by Isaiah Rogers.

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/packages/images/photo/2009/09/24/0927-scapes/30245323.JPG
Astor House in 1913

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/packages/images/photo/2009/09/24/0927-scapes/30245326.JPG
The Astor House in 1913, when it was halved to make way for an office building. The other half was demolished in the 1920s

[Fabrizio]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v33/ronaldo/parkave57.jpg

Park Avenue 1957.

I don't know why, but this photo brings out the Kim Novak in me.

And I have the strange sensation that I'm being followed.

-------------------------

That's the Seagrams building going up over there. And there are a couple of other newbies in the foreground. I guess for some this is a photo of the beginning of the end.

[ablarc]

^ It was, however, a brave new world.

Little did we know at the time the harm that would come of it.

[Fabrizio]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v33/ronaldo/park1900.jpg

This is Park Avenue and 107th Street circa 1900.

I guess this is one of those avant-garde conceptual art installations. *Yawn*

[Fabrizio]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v33/ronaldo/nyc3.jpg

A New England fishing village with NY-style art-deco skyscrapers. Who knew?

[Merry]

It's gone (http://wirednewyork.com/forum/showthread.php?t=3505&highlight=time+warner) now and not lamented, but just for posterity:

http://assets.nydailynews.com/img/2009/10/22/alg_bigtown_colisseum.jpg
The Coliseum under construction in 1955

[Radiohead]

A fantastic view of midtown looking north from 1933, best viewed large on the site below

http://www.shorpy.com/node/6157?size=_original

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2558/4108500096_cea08bb905_o.jpg

[lofter1]

That ^ is always a great site to checkout.

[Radiohead]

^One of my favorites. A lot of great vintage shots of NY and all over.

BTW, it's not NY, but this is one of my favorite shots from that site...

Overlooking LA 1960.
http://www.shorpy.com/node/6514?size=_original

This is a color variation on this famous b/w shot...
http://www.shorpy.com/node/5073?size=_original

[james73]

Hi everyone. First post...

Absolutely fanatastic shots. I was in NY in 2002 and hope to get back again in the not too distant future. I help run a forum of my own home city, Glasgow, and we have some old shot of our city here (http://urbanglasgow.co.uk/index.php) if anyone's interested. :)


James H