From Lewis Hine in 1931, “Atop Empire State- in construction; Chrysler Bldg & Daily News in middle foreground”:
Chrysler is almost perfectly centered in the view, with the Chanin Building directly in front of it. The Daily News building is off to the right, looking a bit zigguratish. The East River, Roosevelt Island (still called Welfare Island at that time) and Queens are in the background.
The spandrel beam that cuts across the top of the view is odd and has odd connections. But the way to understand that is to think about where we are vertically: the angle from Hine to the steel worker is looking down, and we’re looking down at the Chrysler Building, which is 77 stories and over 1000 feet in height. In other words, this isn’t just a photo at the Empire State, its a photo at the very top of the Empire State, and the odd steel is part of the building’s spire. From this angle, Chanin and Daily News – 56 and 36 stories, respectively, look short.
Yes, it’s all relative, and the Empire State was passed in height long ago. But back then, when 1000-foot buildings could be counted on the fingers of one hand, you could take a photo from one and call out two buildings half a mile away because there was nothing big enough in between to block the sight.
As it happens, I’m talking about the Empire State today to some students, in the context of construction technology.
You must be logged in to post a comment.