A street level photograph looking east on 42nd Street towards 5th Avenue on a chilly day in 1928. On the left side of the photograph and just to the right of the twin street lamp globes is one of the early traffic towers which would control vehicular traffic flow with colored signals. Continue reading
This photograph is from a stereoview which captioned the Presbyterian Hospital as “the old men and women’s hospital.” This photo was taken by E. & H.T. Anthony Co. about 1872, shortly before the hospital’s first complex of buildings was completed. The hospital was built by the leading architect of the day, Richard Morris Hunt. Though you cannot tell from the black and white photograph, the contrasting color scheme had bricks that were very red and others that were pale. Continue reading
34th Street where Sixth Avenue and Broadway intersect is known as Herald Square because the New York Herald newspaper had their building located there. It was designed and completed in 1894 by the famous architectural firm of McKim, Mead & White. The building was torn down in two phases, 1928 and 1940. Continue reading
A logging community possibly? Actually it is Fifth Avenue and 101st Street. Continue reading
A scene of New York life, just before the turn of the century. Two things to note:
1) Everyone wears a hat. Continue reading
It probably made the crosstown trip faster than we currently do.
I like the sign in the background – Milk, Cider, Cream Soda, Buttermilk, Lemonade 3¢.
And I love old handwriting:
Tuesday A.M. Dear Mamma, What do you think of this for rapid N.Y. Please send my letters to Aunt Emma’s. Came Monday, will write to-day Love, Evan(?)
According to Appleton’s Dictionary of New York in 1905, there were 7-8 mail deliveries per day and the postal service made a profit. Continue reading
Coney Island July 5, 1946.
Before the mall-ification of New York, Coney Island had lots of things to do besides the rides. One was this common amusement which was found at lots of carnivals and amusement parks. To test your strength you would swing a large mallet, hitting a levered board with a weight attached to a pole. Hitting it as hard as you could would drive the weight up the pole. If you hit it hard enough, the weight would go the top, anywhere from 10-15 feet from the ground and strike a bell. Doing so would entitle you to a prize.
It was a great way to impress a date, Continue reading
Two way vehicular traffic is probably a shocking thing to see on Fifth Avenue, but in 1930 it was the norm. We’re looking north from 59th Street. The Sherry-Netherland Hotel is on the right. Continue reading
The Louis Comfort Tiffany Mansion (above) circa 1886 at the corner of 72nd Street and Madison Avenue designed by McKim, Mead & White.
The Joseph Pulitzer Mansion (below) 1903 at 7 East 73rd Street (just off of Fifth Avenue) designed by Stanford White of McKim, Mead & White.
Louis Tiffany’s home was built starting in 1882 by his father Charles Tiffany, but the elder Tiffany never lived there. The 57 room mansion took three years to complete.
Right around the corner, Joseph Pulitzer, owner of The New York World newspaper also hired the architectural firm of McKim, Mead and White in 1900 to build his home which was completed in 1903.
Pulitzer lived in the house Continue reading
Looking North up Fifth Avenue from 52nd Street.
Church steeples are among the tallest structures in the photo. The closest steeple belongs to the original St. Thomas Episcopal Church on Fifth Avenue and 53rd Street, which was destroyed by fire in 1905. Continue reading