By day, the turn of the century waterfront must have looked industrial and gritty, the air choked with smoke.
But at night, as this vintage postcard shows, it’s another world. The city is enchanting—lit up by the glow of the moon and electric lights inside and outside buildings.
Tags: downtown New York, East River waterfront, New York at night, New York in 1900, New York riverfront at night, New York skyscrapers, turn of the century New York, vintage New York postcards
December 27, 2011 at 3:12 pm |
Sometime between 1908 and 1913? (I think that’s the Singer Building, but I don’t see the Woolworth.)
December 28, 2011 at 5:30 pm |
I think that’s the Singer Tower, too. Nothing else before or after quite looked like that. Now for a couple of “ifs”. If that is the Singer Tower, and if this is after 1913, and if the postcard is oriented from uptown on the left to downtown on the right, it is no stretch to think that the Woolworth building is the tallest structure near the left edge of the postcard. None of the other buildings just north of the Singer Tower was that tall. The Municipal Building may be the smaller tower just behind the Woolworth but I doubt it since it was further north. Artistic license, perhaps?
December 28, 2011 at 5:42 pm |
OK, I dug a little deeper. There is no doubt in my mind that this is definitely the Singer Tower. Here is an image from wikipedia, taken in 1909:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Singer_City_Investing_Hudson_Terminal_1909_crop.jpg
December 28, 2011 at 6:29 pm |
Great detective work. I have a number of these turn of the century postcards, and they do often take some artistic license.