Fifth Avenue Looking North From 57th Street c. 1914
From the Detroit Publishing Company comes this lightly trafficked view of Fifth Avenue. By 1915 horses were being phased out of daily street life and a large portion of the vehicular traffic is motorized.
Central Park is in the background at 59th Street.
There are two notable buildings in this photograph. The tallest visible building on the right between 58th and 59th Street is the Hotel Savoy built in 1892. (The Hotel Netherland is on the next block beyond the the Savoy between 59th and 60th Street.)
The Hotel Savoy was replaced by the new Savoy-Plaza Hotel opening in 1927. By 1965 the hotel was demolished and the 48-story General Motors Building would soon rise on the site of the hotel.
At left is the gargantuan six-story Cornelius Vanderbilt II mansion belonging to the grandson of railroad magnate Cornelius Vanderbilt. The mansion was demolished in 1926. Occupying the spot today is the Bergdorf Goodman department store.
Interesting the drivers of these vehicles are sat on the right. When did left become standard?
Good catch.
Both left and right side steering wheels were available in early automotive manufacturing. A fair portion of early cars were imported with right hand steering.
With the 1908 introduction of Ford’s Model-T and it’s left side drive steering, other manufacturers would follow Ford’s lead based upon the Model T’s popularity and sales. Within a few years the Model-T would widely outsell Buick, Studebaker, Chevrolet and the the many independent auto manufacturers.
By 1915 Ford was outproducing the other top 7 manufacturers combined production numbers.
Ford 622,351
Willys-Overland 130,988
Buick 115,267
Chevrolet 111,877
Dodge 90,000
Maxwell 75,000
Studebaker 39,686
Oakland 33,171
By 1920 most U.S. based auto manufacturers had standardized steering wheels to the left side with few exceptions.