This barren scene is Sixth Avenue (renamed Lenox Avenue in 1887 and additionally named Malcom X Boulevard in 1987) just north of Central Park.
As the northern boundary of the city kept expanding the grading and opening of streets continued further north. Continue reading
This street of upper middle class gentility is 38th Street looking east from Fifth Avenue.
Our stereoview photograph was taken by E & H.T. Anthony & Co. about 1870.
Besides the horse drawn wagon Continue reading
The Labor Day weekend is over now and those who went to the beaches found it crowded on three mostly sunny and hot days.
Though the costumes and people are different, 111 years ago on August 3, 1912 New Yorkers also sought the surf at Brighton Beach. This photograph is by William Davis Hassler, and is now in the collection of The New York Historical Society.
A few things to note. Hassler’s camera Continue reading
Looking west Liberty Street is to the left and Maiden Lane is to the right in this photo from 1895.
This photograph above is sharper Continue reading
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 Continue reading
This amateur snapshot captures the manually operated signal tower to control traffic along the busy stretch of Fifth Avenue at 42nd Street. We are looking north from 42nd Street with Temple Emanu El beyond the flags.
The tower was active in February 1920 to “control congestion,” not just for vehicles but pedestrians. Continue reading
This magic lantern slide emphasizes Broadway’s position as a canyon of skyscrapers.
Today many of these older skyscrapers lining Broadway Continue reading
There is nothing extraordinary happening as we look north up Sixth Avenue from 31st Street.
There’s lots of horse manure in the street and there’s some construction and workers beneath the Sixth Avenue El. The bar on the corner has western saloon style doors and advertises Triple X German Liquors on its sign. A high pressure fire hydrant is on the corner, a sight rarely seen today as the city removed most of them almost three decades ago . The tallest building on the left between 32nd and 33rd Streets is Gimbels Department Store.
As much as we’d like to put an exact date on the photo we cannot. It is uncredited and labeled 1911. There is one intriguing clue however. It’s blurry but if you look at the roof of the building on the left you can see a billboard ad for Eva Tanguay (1878-1947) appearing at The Colonial Theatre. Continue reading
From a private collection comes this 1910 photograph of Fifth Avenue looking north from 64th Street. The tree lined west side of the street abuts Central Park. The residential nature of this stretch of Fifth Avenue can be seen by the abundance of mansions as far as the eye can see. Continue reading
We are looking north along Fifth Avenue to the east side of 42nd Street.
When looking at these stereoviews it’s always nice to pin a date on the scene. While it is impossible to exactly date this stereoview, it is definitely before 1881.
During the 1870s, the nearest building at the northeast corner of 42nd Street, number 503 Fifth Avenue belonged to Levi P Morton, Vice President of the United States from 1889 – 1893 and Governor of New York from 1895-1896. Continue reading