23rd Street At Broadway & Fifth Avenue With No Flatiron Building
This scene shows the cowcatcher intersection at 23rd Street where Fifth Avenue and Broadway intersect.
Our photograph is from about 1897, before the famous Flatiron Building was constructed in 1902.
The elaborate street lamp in the foreground is featured in another photograph taken a couple of years later.
The wall of the building displays advertisements for Virgin Leaf tobacco, Cupid Bouquet (cigars) and Glad Hand. A couple of years later Heinz took over this advertising space.
As trolleys and horse drawn vehicles make their way up and down Broadway, you can tell it is a warm day. Not just by the dress of the pedestrians but the fact that the trolleys are open sided to allow airflow to riders.
I know that this time had it’s share of problems, but golly, this just looks like a wonderful place to be.