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VINTAGRAPH • WPA • WWII • YOU MEAN A WOMAN CAN OPEN IT?

New York Giants: 1900

New York, 1900. "St. Paul and Park Row buildings, two tallest buildings in the world." Note the campaign banner at the bottom of the photo, shot from the Woodbridge building. 8x10 glass negative, Detroit Publishing. View full size.

New York, 1900. "St. Paul and Park Row buildings, two tallest buildings in the world." Note the campaign banner at the bottom of the photo, shot from the Woodbridge building. 8x10 glass negative, Detroit Publishing. View full size.

 

On Shorpy:
Today’s Top 5

Bldgs and streets?

Can someone please post a current view, and ID the tallest spires and the streets that are visible? Is that the old Post Office to the right of the 2 skyscrapers? Is view to west or northwest?

May have answered my question

I think I may have found the reason why the aforementioned man is perched on the ledge of the building with all the shutters open. I started looking more closely and discovered that there is another man two floors below and slightly to the left that seems to be on a scaffold. It looks as though he is painting the shutters. If you look in back of the first man higher up, you can see a bucket. It looks as if these two were painters. This would also explain why all the shutters were thrown open the way they were: they had just been painted and were in the process of drying.

Skyscrapers in search of a paradigm

It's interesting to see that these structures are, despite their giant size, still following the model of the storefronts and brownstones at the bottom of the frame -- embellished street-front facades, with the rear and sides very plain or totally unadorned, resulting in two or three completely different architectural treatments for the same building. Note the blank-faced section of the St. Paul facing us, fronted with a zillion bricks, enclosing the ventilation and elevator or stair shafts. It looks like an urban grain elevator. (For the street-front sides, see this view.)

Park Row & St. Paul 1908

This postcard from a New York City friend, was sent to my grandparents in August of 1908.

Where's the water?

The first thing I noticed are the missing water towers. I see a few, but if you look out onto NYC rooftops today all you'll see are the water towers, looking like fat, rusty spaceships.

Man on Ledge

If you look at the building (the one with all the window shutters open) to the right of the Knox the Hatter building, you will see a man standing on a ledge on the floor just below the roof. There is a large oil or water tank to his right. I don't think he was a window washer. Could he have been a sign painter who was about to paint a message on the large black rectangle on the side of the building right in back of him? To say that he is perched precariously would be an understatement.

Tiny Sample Hats

When we emptied out my parents' house of 54 years worth of stuff saved, I found two small miniature oval hat boxes in perfect condition from Knox Hats. Each contained a finely detailed sample of one of their products and I saved them because they were so unique. After seeing this picture today I put "Tiny Knox Hats" in the search space and came up with pages of info, several of which were people selling salesmens' samples of same. I had no idea these are collectible and now I have to find the ones I brought home which were not shown on the "vintage collectibles" auctions. My father always wore a hat and he had many including Knox, Adams, Dobbs, Stetsons, Danbury, Russian fur, Panamas, etc. and I donated them all to a thrift store. Now I wish I had them. We get too soon old and too late smart.

Armeny & Marion Pens

In the early 1870's Armeny & Marion Co. made extension pens under their own name, but they soon began to make these along with gold filled caps for stylographic pens and gold bands to supply other pen makers. Armeny & Marion Co. was a very early investor in Lewis Waterman's Ideal Pen co.

Armeny & Marion Co

Knox the Hatter

During my commuting days I remember seeing a Knox Hats shop on 8th Ave across the street from the Port Authority. They had a beautiful neon sign and it stood out from the other grimy storefronts along the street.

Hat History

Knox the Hatter was clearly a mover and shaker in Old New York. Read all about it here and here.

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