How They Lit New York For Easter – 1956

Crosses On The Lower Manhattan Skyline

New York City skyscrapers lit with crosses for Easter March 29 1956

This lighting display in the financial district of Manhattan was a surefire way to attract  attention during the Easter celebrations of 1956.

3/29/1956 New York – Huge crosses, formed by lighted windows blaze above New York’s skyline as part of an Easter display in Manhattan’s financial district. This scene photographed from the roof of the Municipal Building features 150-foot-high crosses in the following buildings (L-R) the City Services Co.; City Bank – Farmers Trust Co.; and the Forty Wall Street Corp.  (United Press Telephoto)

24 thoughts on “How They Lit New York For Easter – 1956

  1. Kerry ann Hardee Pawlik

    I BELIEVE IT SHOWS A LOT ABOUT OUR COUNTRY….IN GOD WE TRUST..AND WE DO..I DO..KERRY FROM TEXAS I WOULD LOVE A PRINT OF THIS PICTURE ALSO..!

    Reply
  2. Pingback: How They Lit New York For Easter – 1956 | The Wentworth Report

    1. petemrtno

      Right, Terry, the newspapers also said Saddam had WMDs, and so let us all gather together and go to war against him. Then they said it would take but about a hundred thousand troops to conquer and then leave Iraq. How’d all that work out?

      Reply
    2. Donna Beck

      Snopes said it is true. I fact checked it. Would be wonderful instead of politically correct colors they would replicate this display.

      Reply
  3. Jeff

    There’s something about this photo that doesn’t sit right. The tall building in the middle no longer exists but I found it in a contemporary postcard:

    https://www.joedog.org/pix/skyline.jpg

    As you can see, it’s south of ESB and Chrysler. In the photograph with the crosses, ESB is on the left. This means you’re looking from South to North. Yet the building in the middle, the one that’s supposed to be south of ESB and Chrysler, appears to be north of both of them….

    Reply
    1. James

      Hi, Jeff. In this gorgeous photo, that’s 70 Pine Street (completed in 1932) on the left, and on the right is 40 Wall Street (1930); in the middle there is 20 Exchange Place (1931). I can tell you that this photo was taken from the Municipal Building, looking Manhattan-south.

      Together, 70 Pine, 40 Wall, and 20 Exchange comprised the most striking grouping of towers in Lower Manhattan. From the Brooklyn Heights Promenade, the arrangement of the trio was iconic, picture-postcard perfection: http://cdn.theatlantic.com/static/infocus/nycm061312/n44_0wpa549d.jpg …They were also entrancing from the harbor: http://www.worldshipny.com/images/lwrman50s.jpg …and from the nearby streets below: https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8667/16489046997_0f12f22eda_z.jpg

      In 1961, the scene began to change: http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2766/4272973120_78b7fefe50_b.jpg …That’s the Chase Manhattan building. To put it nicely, the newcomer rudely overwhelms 40 Wall Street. And here’s a picture from 1978, nearing the end of the big-box building boom:
      http://cdn.cstatic.net/images/gridfs/54d24f9bf92ea16e6600a9e6/South%20Street%20Seaport,%201978,%20from%20Brooklyn%20Bridge%20-%20Library%20of%20Congress.jpg
      The World Trade Center is just outside the frame.

      Anyway. Drop-dead romantic image of great old NYC that our blogger has memorialized. Leaves this 26yo pining.

      Reply
    1. petemrtno

      Pat, u sed “same sex sodomy”, meaning u always seek hetero sodomy first b4 any other type orgasms?

      Reply
    1. Max Post author

      We have a large collection of news photos. Don’t know where this one specifically came from.

      Reply
      1. bobbye mitchell

        you have any idea where I can get a print of 1956 Easter nyc skyline?
        thank you,
        bmitchell in Texas

        Reply
  4. Legalize Christmas Too

    Try that today and the hate mongers who worship at the godless church of the holy progressives will threaten to burn the buildings down.

    LCT

    Reply
      1. Mike

        “Every two blocks?” Talk about melodramatic and an exaggeration……..unless, of course, you live somewhere in Italy.

        Reply
    1. petemrtno

      Jews and Muslims are too sensitive to the feelings of others to even consider such a freakin’ display, right?

      Reply

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