First up, from one of those New York Public Library scrapbooks, “Looking down upon a forest of skyscrapers: New York City.” It’s listed as having been issued between 1850 and 1945, and my response to that is “oh, come on.”
The Park Row and St. Paul buildings, and the intersection of Park Row and Broadway, are quite recognizable and those buildings place this no earlier than 1899. 55 Liberty Street – the gothic building with the steep hip roof and dormers at the top right of the photo – is also recognizable, even though we’re seeing the relatively plain back side of it, and that makes this no earlier than 1910. I’m sure I could narrow it down much more than that by using various buildings in the mid-distance, but there’s no point, since it’s obvious that the steel framing in the foreground is part of the top of the Woolworth Building under construction, which means that we’re in 1910.
Most people who’ve seen Woolworth vaguely remember that it has a peaked roof, and at first glance, that’s what this frame looks like, but it’s not. Note that below the conical top, and the two laborers standing up there, the framing runs vertical. Here’s Woolworth in 1910, as the top was being completed:
And here’s a close up of the in-progress framing of the top:
There are four slender towers – minarets? spires? – surrounding the central hip roof. The framing in the top photo is the southeast tower, taken from the main roof.
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