A Street Level View Of The New York Herald Building 1897

This magic lantern slide from around 1897 shows The New York Herald Building at 35th Street sandwiched between Broadway on the left and Sixth Avenue with the El on the right.

The Herald newspaper became the first paper to abandon newspaper row, where most newspapers had their headquarters along Park Row. The Herald’s new home designed by McKim, Mead and White, opened for business on Monday, August 21, 1893. According to the clock and indicator on the Herald Building it is 1:40 P.M. and on this chilly day the was wind blowing from the west. Crowning the building are sculptures of owls. As we explained in a previous story, Herald owner James Gordon Bennett had an obsession with owls.

The tall building partially seen on the left with the advertisement on its wall is The Hotel Normandie.

A covered horse drawn carriage makes its way up Broadway. As usual in pre-automobile New York, the Belgian block streets are littered with horse dung and urine.

On the Broadway side of the Herald a passerby could pause to look inside the building. There they would see the press room in action with 90,000 papers running through the presses per hour.

The Herald would combine with the New York Tribune in 1924 becoming The New York Herald Tribune and last until 1966.

The Herald Building came down in two stages; one in 1928, the other in 1940. The name lives on in the area – Herald Square.