Vintage New York Photos (Part I)

[Allan]

1941

South Ferry bums, on a bench at noon hour.

Wall St. - toward Trinity Church

The harbor from the Battery, with statue of Liberty in background.

A Battery bum surveys this scene.

Looking up into Financial District from South Ferry.

Skyscrapers Looking toward financial District from an East River pier.

South St. Along East River front.

Another view of downtown skyscrapers from East river pier.

Looking up East river toward Brooklyn Bridge.

World Building Tribune Building

Lower Manhattan from Jersey City ferry boat

Manhattan's skyscrapers from Jersey City ferry boat

Approaching Liberty St. ferry

The old Fulton Market Manhattan's Lower East Side Saturday afternoon

Looking up Fulton St. from South St.

Tower of Brooklyn Bridge from South St.

On N.Y.'s lower East Side, Lower Clinton St.

Outside fire escapes on Flat bldgs. on lower Clinton St.

Residents of lower Clinton St near East river Saturday afternoon

Stores near corner of Broome St. and Baruch Place, Lower East Side.

Corner Broome St and Baruch Place

Above river side drive just north of George Washington Bridge

1942

New York Produce Exchange

Canyon of Broadway from Bowling Green

Portable soft drink stand at Bowling Green

Statue of de Peyster, Bowling Green

West side of Broadway from Bowling Green

S. O. Bldg seen from Battery Park.

View east from north end of Battery Park

White horses draw white coach Bowling Green

de Peyster sits for portrait Bowling Green

Trinity Church

Two views looking up a street of many races, lower Manhattan

Two views looking up a street of many races, lower Manhattan

Airing the bed-rooms on a Sunday.

Collecting War-time salvage

Crowd gathers in front of Red Cross station during salvage collection.

Poverty, young and old, black and white.

White house front in drab surroundings

Old lady reads Sunday paper on older door-stoop.

Old lady reads Sunday paper.

New York Street Scene, Lower East Side

N.W. corner DeLancey & Lewis Sts.

Street scene below Brooklyn Bridge Lewis St. north from DeLancey.

Store fronts below brick tenement.

Sunday afternoon gossip

Hot sweet potatoes on Sidewalk store.

A block between Avenues A and B.

Lower First Avenue is spruce looking

N.E. corner, 1st St. and Bowery.

S. E. corner 1st St. and the Bowery

A corner on west Canal St.

West Canal St.

The Angelo's Bakery at 58 Mulberry St. - early morning

Municipal towers in early morning

Municipal Bldg. From Park Row

A busy corner of Pearl St. at noon

Municipal Bldg. Tower seen thru "L" structure

View up Moss Ave.

Sidewalk along Chinese store fronts.

[turlough]

Thanks so much Allan, I love these histroical threads. They are just awsome and it's wonderful to see how much these cities have change and you have hit my soft spot with these histroitcal threads so PLEASE keep them coming.

[Scott]

I love these old pictures. The color makes them look modern sometimes.

[Allan]

Thanks guys. I love these old pics too. It's especially rare to find color city pics from the 1940s. Anyway, Part 2 is coming soon .

[cityboi]

Its amazing how clear the photos are. They look like they were taken today! It also great to see New York's skyline with the more industrial aged look before the age of the more modern skyscrapers. The skyline photos look surreal at times. It's simply beautiful!!

[Raleigh-NC]

OUTSTANDING, to say the least!!! I love [good] vintage photos.

[Oldmanladyluck]

Very very nice photos, I like em all. Does anyone know which building this is on the left hand side of this photo (the tall brown one)? The building looks beautiful

[Allan]

That building is the American International Building. It is 66 floors (952 feet) tall and was completed in 1932.

http://www.emporis.info/en/wm/bu/?id=114432

[tocoto]

In a way it's easier to see the skyline in those old pictures than it is today when it's sort of overwhealming. The granite buildins look so clean.

[Allan]

The granite buildings might look clean, but it seems to me that they wouldn't be very clean. Air pollution makes buildings really dirty, and at that point in time New York was a lot more industrial. I know some buildings, like the Book Tower in Detroit, that are very dirty just because they've been subjected to air pollution for many years. BTW, I did hear that Book Tower is supposed to get a bath this year. It's about time!

I think the old pics look cool because so many of the buildings have the tall spires on top.

[meadows]

these are really great allen. could you tell me where you found them? i would love to know the history of them (e.g. who took them).

[Soren]

I haven't explored this, but the NYPL put several hundred thousand historic images online with a search feature. Should be a good resource:

http://digitalgallery.nypl.org/nypldigital/index.cfm

[RiversideGator]

Those are incredible photos. Where did you get these? I much prefer pre-WWII architecture to that of today. New York was a beautiful place then (and still is). They look so good, it looks almost as if the images arent real. I wish modern architects would use more detail and stone facades like they used to.

[Allan]

The photos came from the Charles W. Cushman Photograph Collection at Indiana University. They can be found here: http://webapp1.dlib.indiana.edu/cushman/index.jsp

[ZachariahDaMan]

Those are awesome pictures Allan! I love seeing old ones.

[lammius]

These are great! It's amazing to see how much has changed and how much seems similar to today.

[Jerseyman4]

The color photos are a big bonus to the already awsome photo coverage of the city!

[MidTenn1]

Don't know if there is another thread on this, but maybe someone ought to start one.

But, I saw King Kong last night and the New York scenes were awesome. The detail was incredible. Even to the point that I saw the old Singer Building shown in one quick shot of the financial district general area.

Go see it just for that.