In a previous post, I referenced the fact that New York City has now made its entire collection of property tax photos available online. Think of this as Google Street Views before there was Google. There are two series: 1940 and 1980. I’m concentrating on 1940 today because these black and white images really show a lost world. New York City was just beginning its transition from quaint Victorian architecture to modern steel, glass, and concrete. Plus you get to see quite a few cars of the ’30s when they were still being used as “daily drivers”.
But before we get to that, I have to tell you that when I was in my early teens (c. 1980), my favorite toy in the world was this HO scale model railroad layout that my father built for me. He created the mounting board and laid the track. I concentrated on scenery: Streets, buildings, trees, and all the other little visual details.
Models set up on the dining room table. The towered red brick building in the center is based on the 1888 Masonic Temple in Newport, Kentucky.
I had big ideas about making the “town” look better and better. Trouble is, the nicer store-bought HO scale model buildings were downright expensive. So I decided to make my own.
However, I needed inspiration–pictures of actual buildings to work from. I found this book in the Morris County Library, The Destruction of Lower Manhattan by Danny Lyon. Inside were photos of Victorian buildings with lots of character that were being demolished in the course of various urban renewal projects. This intrigued me for several reasons. I had visited Manhattan many times, and had seen the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the World Trade Center, the New York Auto Show, the Cloisters, and other points of interest. But what really fascinated me was what you saw as you traveled through the city–the “ordinary” streets and blocks and their buildings, many of them old and ornate–nothing like what I was used to seeing in the well-tended but bland NJ suburbs that I called home.
I also copied buildings I found in New York City: A Photographic Portrait by Victor Laredo and Thomas Reilly, Changing New York by Berenice Abbott, and reprints of Scientific American’s Architects and Builders Edition from the 1880s.
R to L: Masonic Temple, Newport KY; Fulton & Cliff St., Fulton near Nassau St., 120 Chambers St., 287 Broadway (all NYC); High & West Market St. Newark NJ.
Me in Mr. Terry’s art class, cleaning up. (No, that’s not my real hair!) It was Halloween that day.
One day I casually mentioned to my high school art teacher that I had made these building models. He told me to bring them in so he could see them. Mr. Terry liked them enough to put them in the hallway display case where they were on display for a number of weeks.
I also made a model of the St. George Building on Beekman & Cliff Streets. The was the largest and most difficult of the models. Unfortunately, it got damaged and lost and I don’t have a picture of it. Photo from Destruction of Lower Manhattan/Danny Lyon, c. 1965.
So from trips to New York and photo images from these books, I had in the back of my mind all these architectural “hidden gems” scattered throughout the city. Recently I started looking through NYC’s property tax photos, and sure enough some of my “favorites” were shown, but from a different perspective and a different time:
Fulton & Cliff Streets, 1960s; Danny Lyon
Fulton & Cliff Streets, 1940. nyc.gov
Same intersection today.
One block north: St. George Building, Beekman & Cliff Streets, 1940. nyc.gov
Close-up view brings the cars and the details of the facade into sharper focus.
St. George Building was replaced with this.
Here are a few more notables:
In 1937, Berenice Abbott photographed the Wheelock House at 661 West 158th Street.
Here’s the tax photo, taken three years later by NYC officials. The “ultimate haunted house”, it sits forlornly, awaiting its doom.
No one would know the house was ever there.
Abbott also photographed the Third Avenue car barns, which housed the electric trolley cars of the Third Avenue Railway. (Third Avenue & 65th Street, 1936)
Couldn’t find a tax photo, but the car barn was demolished in 1949 and the Manhattan House Apartments now occupy the site.
Another foreboding Second Empire pile, Gus Hill’s Minstrel Theatre stood at Park Avenue & 129th Street. (Berenice Abbott, 1935)
By the time the tax photographers got there in 1940, Gus Hill’s Minstrels was already gone, and a gas station is being built.
Eighty years later, the little gas station building is still in use, now BP.
The Christian Mission on the East River waterfront has an ominous message: BE SURE YOUR SIN WILL FIND YOU OUT! (South Street and James Slip) nyc.gov
The old sailors who came ashore would never recognize the place!
This cheery confection is the Old Men and Women’s (Presbyterian) Hospital on Madison Avenue between 70th & 71st. In 1891 (a typical year) 3,300 patients were cared for, of which 3,200 were treated for free and scarcely more than $3,000 was received from paying patients! From the website stuffnobodycaresabout.com
Present-day view is at a slightly different angle so you can see the surviving church steeple in the background.
Perhaps the most beautiful Manhattan building that I never got to see was the Old Post Office at the southern tip of City Hall Park.
In its day, it was claimed that more people viewed this building than any other in the city–which for New York is really saying something. Sadly, this most fanciful structure was demolished in 1939.
Just as an aside, this is a drugstore on Broadway, c. 1875. A lot of people don’t realize how elaborate everyday bars, drugstores, clothing stores, offices, etc. were in those days. Also you could buy morphine, heroin, cocaine, etc. without a prescription–as long as you will willing to pay for it! The marble-topped counters, solid wood cabinets, and chandeliers all eventually ended up in the dumpster, eh?
BRONX:
600 E. 138th Street, Bronx (1940) nyc.gov
Now FAT ALBERT (“Hey-hey-hey!”) An original building is seen on the right.
Charlotte Street, Bronx looked so neat and tidy in 1940 . . .
Charlotte Street, four decades later. How could this possibly happen? Photo: Camilo Vergara
Today–Same view as 1940 photo. Looks like suburbia–except for walls, fences, and iron bars over every window!
BROOKLYN:
Batterman’s department store dominated the intersection of Broadway, Graham, and Flushing Avenues.
Even by 1940, Batterman’s has been shorn of its Victorian splendor, with upper stories and towers removed. A “Streamline-Moderne” facade has replaced the glories of old. nyc.gov
Here it is today.
In a city of extraordinary houses, one that deserves special mention is the residence of Niels Poulson, president of the Hecla Iron Works. It was located on Shore Road and 89th Street in the Bay Ridge section. This mansion was “built to last” with the finest and strongest materials available. It had a steel frame, like a skyscraper. The floors were steel-reinforced concrete. The outside was clad in “high-art” decorated copper panels. A cast iron fence surrounded the property. Complete details on this incredible house are presented here.
The interior was a blend of cast iron, wrought iron, bronze, silver, and nickel; all designed by Poulson himself. Pastel-colored tiles covered the floor next to the twin dragons framing the fireplace.
View upward to second floor railing.
Alas, the house that was built to last forever only survived only 40 years (1890 to 1930). In 1936 a new apartment house (“The Colonnades”) was erected on the site.
Ironically, Poulson’s factory at N. 11th & Berry Streets outlived his “Rock of Gibraltar” mansion. (Fun fact: Judging from the tax photos, there was NO GRAFFITI in New York in 1940!)
I’m ending this post on a positive note. This may be my favorite photo of the whole collection–the architecture, the car, the lamp post, the cobblestone paving, the composition–it’s all there!
Long Island Safe Deposit Company, 1 Front Street, Brooklyn; 1868-69. Cast iron facade. Photo from flickr by Steve Minor
What’s more, it survives! Yes, somehow it survived urban blight, remodelers, vandals, and urban renewal schemes. It is in fact older than the Brooklyn Bridge which looms above it.
137 West 48th Street, Manhattan (1940) nyc.gov
I’m sure the men who created these tax photographs had no real idea of the historical significance of what they were doing. It was probably a boring, tedious job–going from house to house, block to block snapping pictures while holding up the “BLOCK-LOT” sign. A way for photographers to make some steady cash in the late stages of the Great Depression when work was hard to get. But I thank them for their precision and dedication; and I thank the municipal government of New York City for digitizing the images and making them accessible to all!
The most curious one for me is the Batterman’s department store turning into Wilson’s and then Modell’s. Why would anyone go through the expense of removing the top three or four levels of the building and leaving the bottom two floors there, rather than using the upper floors for storage, inventory, housing, anything? I couldn’t find anything about Betterman’s on Wikipedia, but on other sites apparently they started in 1867 and opened the store shown in 1881. The store got bought out by another, larger company which owned several store chains and provided inventory to many others, including Lord & Taylor which closed just a few years ago. But the aforementioned parent company went bankrupt in 1914, and while Batterman’s continued to operate a few more years, they seem to be gone by the early ’20s. One website that showed this store and others in the area (www.brownstoner.com/history/famous-brooklyn-stores-retail-history) found several old department store buildings that still exist, though also heavily modified. “Downtown shopping districts” are largely a thing of the past – all my local downtoan DC department stores like Hecht’s, Woodward & Lothrop (Woodies), and Garfinkel’s are long gone though I shopped at all of those when I worked there.
> Also you could buy morphine, heroin, cocaine, etc. without a prescription–as long as you will willing to pay for it!
…but aspirin required a prescription! Despite (or more precisely, because) those drugs were still legal, there was far less of a drug addiction problem back then than now, to say nothing of drug-related violence (really drug prohibition-related violence) and huge sums of money spent fruitlessly trying to prevent it.
Get it all at Woodies!
A Woodies credit card could help you do so…
Just about all the locals called it that. I bought a couch, my flatware set, and some shirts I still have (Potomac Collection, one of their house brands) at Woodie’s
Still have my “Hecht’s” card..Used to have a “40’s-50’s” “W/L” hat box and shopping bag. Were stored in an underbed box. Big plumbing mess, flood wrecked my condo in “2001”.
“Bye bye” box..
Prostitution was legal too. In fact it was “protected” by politicians and the police. At one point, 10% of the women in New York were prostitutes.
Curious what that guy is playing on the piano
With all the ladies, probably Ragtime.
Removing the top few floors was fairly common. It would have been hugely expensive; can’t just convert a floor into a roof! Maybe it was still cheaper than installing elevators?
Here’s a building in Enid where the same thing happened. In this case the reason might have been appearance, since the Stephenson Building overwhelmed the rest of the block.
https://www.downtownenidhistory.com/101-n-grand/101-n-grand-enid-ok
Last year, I was obsessed enough about old Penn Station to buy a book about it. It may have been covered in grime, but that was a crime.
After my great aunt’s funeral in ’82, we were driven from her former church in Forest Hills, Queens (too near JFK) to Greenwood Cemetery in southern Brooklyn. My father had driven like a nut across Manhattan to get there on time. The main thing I remember was block after block of boarded up tenements in sight of the skyline. I doubt they’re there now. The limo driver proudly pointed out Brooklyn’s Grand Army Arch, and Mom’s cousin from NC drawled that we didn’t really need to see that.
In 2000, her son told us how to get to the site of the Hamilton-Burr duel high on the NJ palisade (no wonder he died). There’s an incredible view of the length of Manhattan, at the time pinned to the Hudson like a butterfly by the gigantic WTC. Then we drove to the shore at Hoboken, and they were even larger. So different from photos of it or the TV, it was scary even from across the river.
Reminds me of the older parts of New Orleans. Several mansions and other structures torn down to make way for the interstate, office buildings, or apartment complexes.
At one time, a proposal was make to put an elevated highway thru the French Quarter along the river front. That idea didn’t survive very long!!
Oof, I bemoan the loss of old architecture. It must have rubbed off on my daughter, who is studying Architectural Conservation and Sustainability Engineering.
Thanks for ending on a positive note. What’s that parked in front of 1 Front Street, a 1932 Pontiac?
To spin a bit of positivity, there are still many, many beautiful and architecturally significant buildings all over NYC. Living in West Harlem for many years, I’ve wandered Manhattan from tip to tip, and when you pay attention you can spot some real gems without looking too hard. Northern Manhattan in particular was an area of some wealth in the 19th century. Harlem, Washington Heights and Inwood are full of beautiful architecture, much of which is relatively well preserved. Of course a great deal was lost during the mid 20th century when the area was economically depressed, but in some ways the dearth of funds to redevelop during those times may have also forced many of those buildings to survive. Northwestern Manhattan is quite beautiful. I’m flying in for a long weekend next week to visit friends, and I’m hoping for good weather to go on a good long urban hike.
That’s the major reason Savannah, Charleston, Annapolis, Georgetown, and Alexandria still have so many colonial and federal period buildings–they largely stopped prospering in the 19th and first half of the 20th centuries. Fortunately, historic preservation became fashionable and often profitable before they revived too much.
Dear Stephen, Thank you for these photos. As a native New Yorker, I would enjoy architecture before it came tumbling down. Too much of it is gone and often replaced with tasteless eyesores. When I lived in The Bronx, as unattractive as rows of brick buildings might have been, we certainly did not have blight.
Nice photos, too bad about the loss of Victorian architecture .
I’m well pleased to have been one who remembers much of this before the 1960’s urban renewal took it all away .
-Nate
“No graffiti in 1940”. Did spray paint exist in 1940?
35,000 BC below. Where there’s a will, there’s a way.
Wikipedia says aerosol paint cans were developed in 1949, using technology for insecticide sprays during WW2.
I do like those model buildings; so very effective arranged together like that. A nice way to commemorate the original buildings.
Back in the ’60s when I was growing up there was very little respect for Victorian/Edwardian architecture. Now what was new then is of similar age, assuming it hasn’t already been replaced, of course. Quite a lot has!
I will join the lament over the loss of the old buildings, even though I understand the idea of functional obsolescence. These remind me of an old building in downtown Indianapolis that probably dated from this era (research says 1875), though its façade had been updated in the 40’s. On an upper floor was a seller of law books where some of us went in the early 80s because they were cheaper than the campus bookstore. I loved the creaky old wooden staircase and floors, and felt like I had stepped back to life before 1900. Sadly, my city has suffered from the same waves of renewal and the building was razed several years after I was there.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/jarchie/3812862576/in/album-72157621994215416/
Some Interesting details from the upper West side near 98th & Broadway according to the photographer. I would love to have at least one of these dragons.
My lordy, Mr P, but those models you made are rather remarkable to me.
Thank you!