The 'masts with wires', noted as being on the roof of the old Waldorf-Astoria hotel might possibly be related to electrical inventor Nicolai Tesla, who took up residence there in 1899.

[It's the United Wireless Telegraph Company's Waldorf-Astoria station. -tterrace]

Taken from the Flatiron Building but not, apparently, from the very top (compare the level of the balustrade on top of the building on the left in the Shorpy photo and then in the photo below).

If you visit the Worth monument now, you'll notice what looks like a somber mausoleum behind it. It is a shaft of the Catskill Aqueduct, completed only seven years after the above photo was taken. I'm told there are notes written on the walls in chalk by the original contractors, and that the DEP hardly ever stops by for anything because the valve gates rusted in place many years ago and they couldn't close them if they wanted to.

Hmmm, I see a "HOME RULE" banner down the left-hand street. Could this have been due to Irish immigrants expressing support for self-government of their homeland?

["Home Rule" was the slogan of the Order of Acorns, an organization opposed to the Tammany Hall political machine that ran New York City government at the time. -tterrace]

"Dr. Pratt Face and Features Specialist" has a suite in what I'll call the Berlitz Building. Disfigured soldiers returning from the so-called Great War increased the demand for this specialty. Some of the better practitioners were able to able to transfer their skills to movie actors.

Major General William Jenkins Worth (1794-1849) served heroically in the War of 1812 ,the Mexican American War and the Second Seminole War. He was in command of the Department of Texas when he died of Cholera at age 59. His remains were reinterred in this Monument.

It's great to see a vintage shot of this intersection looking uptown instead of downtown. The backside of the original Waldorf-Astoria is in the middle distance, but what are the big masts with the wire between them on the roof? Wouldn't this be too early for an aerial?

[Spotting wireless telegraphy masts like this is a Shorpy tradition of long standing. Click to enlarge. -tterrace]

UNDER THIS MONUMENT

LIES THE BODY OF

WILLIAM JENKINS WORTH

BORN IN HUDSON, N.Y.
MARCH 1, 1794
DIED IN TEXAS
MAY 7, 1849

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

And Fort Worth Tx is named for him.