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Most of the photos on this site were extracted from reference images (high-resolution tiffs, 20 to 200 megabytes in size) from the Library of Congress research archive. (To query the database click here.) Many were digitized by LOC contractors using a Sinar studio back. They are adjusted by your webmaster for contrast and color in Photoshop before being downsized and turned into the jpegs you see here.
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Vintage photos of:
Gotham Hotel: 1905
Submitted by Dave on Thu, 06/10/2010 - 5:09am.
Tags:
New York circa 1905. "Gotham and St. Regis hotels." Looking south along Fifth Avenue at East 56th Street. On the right, the Gotham rising behind Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church. Detroit Publishing Company glass negative. View full size.
The car seems to be
Submitted by Anonymous Tipster on Fri, 06/11/2010 - 1:11pm.
A De Dion Bouton. Although does not have the characteristic shroud louvers.
Dancing buildings
Submitted by Anonymous Tipster on Thu, 06/10/2010 - 11:47pm.
I like how the Gotham has a setback at the top, while the St. Regis has a corresponding overhang.
That Car
Submitted by Anonymous Tipster on Thu, 06/10/2010 - 9:19pm.
Who can identify it? At first I thought Renault (seen here on Shorpy), maybe a Type AG taxi, but the radiator in this photo is up front instead of behind the motor, as on a Renault.
[Maybe someone at the New Jersey DMV can look up 11045? - Dave]
+101
Submitted by timeandagainphoto on Thu, 06/10/2010 - 7:59pm.
Below is the identical perspective from April of 2006.
Gorgeous!
Submitted by rbenko on Thu, 06/10/2010 - 2:21pm.
What a vista! Fifth Avenue was the creme-de-la-creme of NYC at the turn of the 20th century (and still is in many respects). You can see St. Thomas on the right at 53rd street, and the spires of St. Patrick's Cathedral on the left at 50th street. The spire directly above the parked auto doesn't exist anymore -- not sure what church it belonged to.
Wow
Submitted by toshiro_mifune on Thu, 06/10/2010 - 12:25pm.
I've worked in this area for more than a decade. It's hard to imagine sometimes that it was once primarily a residential neighborhood.
Absolutely Stunning!
Submitted by SHORPAHOLIC on Thu, 06/10/2010 - 11:54am.
Now THIS is what I call a picture, the detail is incredible. As I stare into the scene I just imagine myself walking these streets everyday. I think my neck would hurt most of the time from looking up at the gorgeous building details. I experience this same problem a couple of summers ago when my wife and I spent a few days in NY. I kept nearly running into things and people because I was always looking up!
Soul Street
Submitted by -E-C-Mills on Thu, 06/10/2010 - 10:48am.
No restaurants nearby, but plenty of churches for your spiritual needs.
Horseless carriage
Submitted by caseyshebascott on Thu, 06/10/2010 - 10:43am.
Wow! This must be one of the earliest autos. Could it be a Duryea? In 1905 even in a downtown NYC, only one auto on a busy city street, within a few years most of the horses would be gone. Great snapshot of the beginning of the automobile in America.
Grandes Dames
Submitted by Mr Mel on Thu, 06/10/2010 - 10:06am.
The St Regis and Gotham Hotels still stand at their exact locations 105 years later. The only change, the name of the Gotham, it is now the Peninsula. Both are high end digs.
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Shorpy.com | History in HD is a vintage photo blog featuring thousands of high-definition images from the 1850s to 1950s. The site is named after Shorpy Higginbotham, a teenage coal miner who lived 100 years ago.
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Today's Top 5