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New York circa 1910. "Broadway and Hotel Victoria." With the Flatiron Building looming in the distance. 8x10 glass negative. View full size.
The prominence of the Pach Brothers Studio sign (in the haze down the street past the Flatiron, about five stories up) must have meant it was a very large studio. The last owner of Pach Brothers was Oscar White who as far as I know still lives in Pearl River, NY, Rockland Co. (as of the end of 2014). He used to teach portrait classes at Rockland Community College.
Below is the same view from September of 2014.
"Secure the shadow ere the substance fades" on Mr Scherer's photography studio advertises a very creepy offering.
I believe that the building under construction that we can glimpse in the upper right left corner is the Met Life tower. If so, this photo was taken no later than 1909.
The "Bishop's Crook" lamppost introduced electric lighting to New York City streets. Taller and brighter than its gas predecessors (five of which are visible in front of the Hotel Victoria), it was designed in 1896 by Richard Rogers Bowker, an Edison Company executive. The first lamps were placed at the corners of major avenues, pointing diagonally into the intersection.
Reminds me of the old "Barber and Surgeon" signs. Two chiropodists directly across the street from one another - lots of toe woes.
Two things about these early 20th Century street scenes continue to amaze me: the fact that even skyscrapers like the Flatiron Building had functional double hung windows right up to the top, and the startling frequency with which the photographers catch people doing who knows what on building ledges - in this case on the third floor of the Victoria. Keep up the good work.
looks like he is about to do something wrong; or else he just did something wrong and thinks he was caught by the camera.
Madison Square Park is one of the most beautiful parks in the city. It is not expansive like Central Park but a pleasant square that still has the turn of the century feel. The Flat Iron building is in the South West corner but many of the buildings that border the park are from this period.
At 1164 Broadway, underneath Cohen Typewriter Agency.
Is that the ESB being constructed at the upper-left corner?
[Once they invented elevators, the thing really took off. - Dave]
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