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Lower Manhattan circa 1910. "Hudson Terminal buildings." 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size.
What a poignant window on the past. Amazing how events, when filtered through time and knowledge and experience, backwards and forwards, fraught as they are with emotion, take on new meaning. Now when I see a movie with the WTC towers standing insouciantly in the background, unaware of their fate, I get a catch in my throat. Similarly to visit NYC and just look at the air where they stood, presents a moment of listening and learning if you let it.
What are those oblong chimney-like structures seen on the roofs of several buildings? Could they be fireplace exhausts?
[Your hunch is correct: The chimneylike things are chimneys! - Dave]
The Hudson Terminal buildings look quite attractive. It may be blasphemous to say this but I was never a fan of the architecture in the WTC buildings.
FWIW, New York Law School was started by several Columbia University Law School professors who had philosophical and pedagological differences with the Columbia Universtiy administration.
45 (?) chimneys, countless steam pipes and one water tank! I find rooftops the absolute most interesting parts of old building!
We don't have that tall buildings here in Finland even now (Well, maybe one or two). And that was 100 years ago. I guess there's lots of space here. No need to "go up." But that's still pretty impressive! Shame that those are not around anymore, they would have also made a lot more difficult target to hit, than WTC. Btw, I think it's kinda ironic that now they build world's tallest buildings in the middle east (Burj Khalifa in Dubai and that new colossal clock tower in Mecca. I'm just waiting for the news that some American has snapped and had enough and decided to even up the score some with a plane of his own.)
P.S. I did see the attack in N.Y. coming years ahead (But the scenario I speculated to happen, was a terrorist nuclear attack in N.Y.), as I did see the end of Soviet Union coming and the falling of berlin wall. Nobody never believes me before these things actually happen. (I'm no fortune teller, I jus't follow things going on in the world and use common sense to put 2+2 together)
So here we see the test lab for the Titanic's deck chairs.
the ground floor of the old Evening Post building at 20 Vesey Street houses the 9/11 Memorial Preview Site.
What would the open ironwork tower in the upper left have been for? Much too small for a water tower, could it have been an observation post for fires? Or perhaps for steamship arrivals (before the terminal buildings were built)? Maybe a weather station? Or a wireless mast?
Unbelievable shot Dave. An appropriate tribute to 9/11 and a reminder we must never forget the ATTACKS (they were not "tragic events") that day in 2001. This view is from Park Row looking southwest. Those towers stood on what was to become the World Trade Center site. The roof of the Astor House can be seen in the immediate foreground which stood on Broadway between Vesey and Barclay Streets. It was built by John Jacob Astor in 1836 and was considered the finest hotel in New York City for decades. It has been considered the direct ancestor to the Astor Hotel that was on Times Square and the two Waldorf-Astorias (the first on Fifth and the current one on Park). It was demolished in sections beginning in 1913. St. Paul's Chapel in the left foreground still stands today. For months after 9/11 the fence around St. Paul's was completely covered in hand-made signs asking for help in locating those who were missing after the attacks. That is something I'll never forget.
The Hudson Terminal Buildings were located on the future site of the World Trade Center, weren't they?
The sign on the right says, "Fishing Tackle That's Fit For Fishing, Abercrombie."
[You're close -- it's Abbey & Imbrie. - Dave]
I've always wanted to see a better shot of these buildings, as they were so overlooked.
(It's also interesting to see this particular shot on this particular day as well, considering what was built there.)
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