And here's the view to the south toward the Woolworth Building...
And here is the stately building from the same day...
The great Samuel H. Gottscho took these photos... and they are via the Museum of the City of New York's website, where you can find many amazing archival photos. Where I'm buying a few things from their archives for holiday gifts.
Updated:
Dave on 7th thinks that the top two photos were taken later than 1929... Perhaps 1931. "That's an almost complete Empire State Building in the middle and it was completed in May of 1931 and the site was excavated in Jan of 1930 (per Wikipedia). So, I think their date is off by two years."
12 comments:
What is that huge drum-thing in the NW view?
What is that enormous tank, could it be a water tower? Imagine the flood if that failed. Maybe it was illuminating gas storage? Any idea where it was located?
The tank is a storage tank for coal gas. The area where Stuy Town currently sits used to be called the Gashouse District and there were lots of such tanks in the area.
That is a natural gas storage tank and is the located in present day Stuy Town which was all Gas works.
Great photos, thanks for posting them!
1929. Year of the crash. Not a pleasant time.
These are great, thanks for sharing! My grandmother would have been 6 years old when this was taken, growing up on 7th between C & D. She still lives in the neighborhood, I can't wait to print and show these to her.
Most missing to the northeast is the Empire State Building,yet to be built, but was wondering where the Chrysler Building is, since it should have been completed by 1929?
It looks like Empire State Building and Chrysler Building were both in final stages of construction.
That's the newly completed NY Life Insurance building on the left, the ESB in the middle, and the Chrysler behind the tank. I juxtaposed a recent photo from almost this exact position from when I lived at CH to make sure. (I thought the Chrysler was too "close," but it's in the right spot.)
BTW, for all you Christodora obsessives, check this...http://issuu.com/samuel_glasser/docs/christodora_house/1#; before and after 1986 reno pics of the CH by Glasser and co.
Anyone who has access to these views now... PLEASE JUMP !!
Just stumbled onto this -- may be long past the point of needing clarification, but the Midtown photo is definitely from around 1929: the tall building in the center of the photo is the Mercantile Building, and the one poking above the gas tank is the Chanin Building; both were completed in 1929. The Chrysler Building would be just to the right of Chanin, and must have been in the early stages of construction when this was taken, as it was completed in 1930. From the Christodora, the ESB would be immediately to the right of the NY Life Building.
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