New and Less New

From January 11, 1952, Max Hubacher gives us “View of the tip of Manhattan from the new Brooklyn Heights Esplanade”:

The circle is the end of Remsen Street (then, newly redesigned) just south of the esplanade (promenade, as I think of it) over the Brooklyn Heights segment of the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway. To prove that things can change for the better, the circle is now a no-parking zone. The promenade itself is past the black fence behind the furthest reach of the circle, and heads off to the north, to the right. The presence of the promenade is really about Robert Moses, in his efforts to run highways throughout the city, needing to keep powerful people on his side.

The skyline of lower Manhattan, as seen here, is just about the same as the skyline of 1930. The Great Depression and World War II pretty much stopped skyscraper construction in New York from 1930 or a little after to 1946. The big exceptions was Rockefeller Center in the early 30s, but the Rockefellers could afford to buck short-term economic conditions. When business as usual, and office-tower construction started up again in the late 1940s and early 1950s, midtown was the preferred location. The downtown skyline barely changed until Chase Manhattan building came along 1957-1961.