Fifth Avenue NYC Archives - Page 3 of 6

New York Public Library, New York City (2)

February 9, 2018June 20, 2016 by Derek Strahan

The New York Public Library, seen from the corner of Fifth Avenue and 42nd Street around 1908. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress, Detroit Publishing Company Collection.

The view in 2016:

The first photo here was taken a few years before the one in this earlier post, and it shows the library shortly before its completion. At this point the building had been under construction for about six years, and although the exterior was mostly finished, there was still about three more years of work left to do. The grounds had not been landscaped yet, and instead the library was surrounded by dirt and debris, with a simple brick wall and metal picket fence around the construction site. Also missing from the first photo were the two lion statues that now flank the front steps. Originally nicknamed Leo Astor and Leo Lenox after two of the library’s greatest benefactors, they were designed by sculptor Edward Clark Potter and were installed by the time the library opened in 1911.

Fifth Avenue from 42nd Street, New York City

June 20, 2016 by Derek Strahan

Looking north up Fifth Avenue from the corner of 42nd Street, around 1900-1910. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress, Detroit Publishing Company Collection.

Fifth Avenue in 2016:

Unlike sections of Fifth Avenue to the south of here, this then and now scene shows no discernible landmarks left from the first photo. The area in this view, from 42nd Street north to Central Park, has some of the most valuable commercial real estate in the world, so over the years most of the low-rise structures from the early 1900s have been replaced with more modern buildings. One such building is to the left of center in the 2016 photo, at the corner of 43nd Street. Built in 1954 as the home of the Manufacturers Trust Company, this glass and aluminum building was an early example of modern architecture in the United States, and it is now designated as a New York City landmark.

The first photo was taken sometime before automobiles became the dominant form of transportation in the city, as most of the vehicles in this scene are horse-drawn carriages. However, one particularly interesting vehicle is the double-decker bus on the left side, which was operated by the Fifth Avenue Coach Company. Unlike all of the other numbered avenues in Manhattan, Fifth Avenue never had a trolley line, as its wealthy residents did not want tracks and trolleys running down their street. Instead, it was served by buses such as the one in the photo, which carries a Bull Durham Chewing Tobacco advertisement on the side of it. This has continued to the present-day, with several bus lines running along the surface of Fifth Avenue instead of a subway underneath it.

New York Public Library, New York City

June 30, 2020June 18, 2016 by Derek Strahan

The main branch of the New York Public Library, seen from the corner of Fifth Avenue and 40th Street around 1911-1920. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress, Detroit Publishing Company Collection.

The library in 2019:

The New York Public Library system has its origins in a number of 19th century private libraries, including the Astor Library and the Lenox Library. In 1895, these were consolidated into a single, city-wide public library, but the organization was in need of a suitable building. In the 1890s, the Boston Public Library had set the standard for grand city libraries, and New York City followed suit with this central library, located along Fifth Avenue between 40th and 42nd Streets. This spot had previously been the site of the Croton Distributing Reservoir, a massive 50-foot tall granite structure that was built in 1842 and could hold up to 20 million gallons of drinking water. It was demolished around 1900 and construction on the library began in 1902.

The interior of the library is known for its elegantly-designed public spaces, such as the marble Astor Hall, the walnut-paneled McGraw Rotunda, and the two-block long Main Reading Room, but there is far more to the building than just what is publicly accessible. When the library opened in 1911, its collections were stored in seven levels of stacks underneath the Reading Room, which had 75 miles of shelf space. The library eventually outgrew this space, though, and in the 1980s the stacks were expanded underneath Bryant Park, which is located behind the library.

Since 2008, the building has been officially named after Stephen A. Schwarzman, a businessman who donated $100 million toward renovating and expanding the library. Its exterior has remained largely unchanged from the first photo, but virtually everything else around it has changed in the past century. Today, Midtown Manhattan has grown up around the library, and while the backdrop of the first photo is a sky filled with white puffy clouds, today the view of the sky is now almost entirely obscured by modern skyscrapers that literally overshadow the library.

Fifth Avenue from 36th Street, New York City

June 18, 2016 by Derek Strahan

Looking south on Fifth Avenue from 36th Street, around 1910-1915. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress, Detroit Publishing Company Collection.

The view in 2016:

This view shows the same section of Fifth Avenue as this earlier post, just from the opposite direction. Like the photos in that post, it is remarkable how many buildings here are still standing over a century later. Most of the buildings here date back to the first decade of the 1900s, when this section of Fifth Avenue was becoming a major commercial district. To the right, at the corner of 35th Street, is the New York Accessories Exchange Building, which was built in 1907 and has had few exterior alterations since then. Across the street from it is the former B. Altman department store building, which was built in 1906 and is now used by the City University of New York. The one major building from the first photo that is not still standing, though, is the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, located two block away on the right side. As mentioned in earlier posts, it was demolished in 1929 to build the Empire State Building.

Waldorf-Astoria and Knickerbocker Trust, New York City

February 9, 2018June 18, 2016 by Derek Strahan

Looking south along Fifth Avenue toward the intersection of 34th Street, around 1904, with the Knickerbocker Trust Company building in the foreground and the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel beyond it. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress, Detroit Publishing Company Collection.

The scene in 2016:

The two buildings in the first photo, the Waldorf-Astoria and the Knickerbocker Trust Company Building, have been discussed in further detail in earlier posts, but this photo here provides a particularly good view of the architecture of the Knickerbocker building, which had been completed around that time. It was designed by McKim, Mead & White, a prominent architectural firm whose other significant works of the era included the Boston Public Library and New York’s Penn Station. Unfortunately, although the bank building is technically still standing here, subsequent alterations have completely destroyed the original architecture, including the addition of 10 stories on top of it in 1921 and the replacement of the facade in 1958 with the bland exterior that it now has. As for the Waldorf-Astoria, it is obviously no longer standing; the famous hotel was demolished in 1929 and the Empire State Building was built in its place.

Fifth Avenue from 34th Street, New York City

June 18, 2016June 17, 2016 by Derek Strahan

Looking north on Fifth Avenue from 34th Street in New York City, probably in 1912. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress, Detroit Publishing Company Collection.

Fifth Avenue in 2016:

This view shows much of the same section of Fifth Avenue as the photos in an earlier post, with the only difference being that this was taken a block north. Although taken only around five years apart, the “then” photos in these two posts show a number of changes. As mentioned in that post, Fifth Avenue was widened in 1908, and the 1912 photo here also shows a significant increase in the number of cars on the road, as opposed to the horse-drawn carriages that appear in the earlier view.

The date of 1912 for this photo is established thanks to a banner across Fifth Avenue in the distance, which is only readable in high-resolution copies of this photo. It is a political ad for Republican presidential candidate and his running mate James S. Sherman, and although they ran for office in both 1908 and 1912, the photo can be conclusively dated to 1912 because of the license plates on the cars in the foreground; New York did not begin issuing license plates until 1910. At the time, both men were running for re-election, but President Taft lost in a landslide, coming in third behind Woodrow Wilson and Theodore Roosevelt. It was an even worse year for Sherman, though, who died less than a week before the election.

Today, a surprising number of buildings from the first photo are still standing, especially in the foreground. The Knickerbocker Trust Company Building on the far left has been altered beyond recognition, but it is still there, along with many of its early 20th century neighbors. The building on the far right is the former home of department store B. Altman and Company. It was built in 1906, and is now used by the City University of New York’s Graduate Center. Another historic landmark built around the same time was the Gorham Building, on the left side of the street near the center of the photo. Although the street-level parts of the building have been altered over the years, it is still recognizable from the first photo.