#panambuilding

Manhattan Night

[I've posted this before, but had another go at optimizing the scans of the medium format negatives.]

These two views were taken from the roof of a Manhattan building, on 22nd Street, looking uptown. Beyond the main subject here, the Empire State Building, another icon of the Manhattan skyline can be seen—the RCA Building. It is just to the left of the Empire State Building, bathed in light, but also lost in fog.

At the time of this photograph, the RCA Building had been renamed the GE Building, and would eventually come to be known as 30 Rockefeller Plaza. Also at this time: the ESB stood out almost in a singular fashion between the downtown cluster of skyscrapers (around Wall Stree) and the midtown cluster. Since then, the skyline has grown considerably to take away from this prominence.

The Empire State Building is located between 33rd and 34th Streets, and the RCA building between 49th and 50th Streets—while both lie between 5th and 6th Avenues.

Empire State Building

Once again I’m atop a building on 22nd Street in Manhattan, looking uptown. We see, from left to right: the RCA Building, the Empire State Building, the Pan AM Building (by then MetLife), along with the Chrysler Building.

On my Way to Work, Part Two

I’ll do a short series of posts now showing what I saw every day on my way to work back in 1991 or 1992. Picking up from yesterday’s post at Grand Central Terminal, we’ll walk south on Fifth Avenue.

After moving away from GCT, we are immediately confronted with another historic structure, this time housing a fabulous public institution, an example of what makes a group of people, or nation, civilized—the New York Public Library, Main Branch at Bryant Park. Like GCT and the Chrysler Building, seen in the previous post, it is just off 42nd Street. Also like Grand Central Terminal, it is of the Beaux-Arts style; it opened in 1911.

Due to this grouping of important structures, which represent both economic and cultural achievement, as well as a seemingly outdated notion of the common good, is why I personally consider this two- or three-block area the center of the universe.

Walking a bit further south, but well before we get down to 34th Street, we see the Empire State Building looming. This well-known structure [come to think of it, is there any more well-known?] opened in 1931; like the Chrysler, it also sports a wonderful Art Deco design, though less ostentatiously. At this time, in the early nineties, this building had such a commanding presence in the New York City skyline—due to its height, of course, but also because it stood fairly isolated in a low area between Midtown and the Battery, both of which are delineated by impressive clusters of skyscrapers. This presence has been lessened, of course, due to the construction boom that has occurred since—with (what I feel are) annoying pencil skyscrapers popping up left and right.

The Chrysler Building

When I was a young photography student in New York, I wanted to get a nice image of the Chrysler Building. I approached it from the northwest—by entering another favorite edifice of mine, the Pan Am Building.

While in that structure, on a floor near the top, I somehow talked my way into an office that looked out to the southeast where I knew the Chrysler was located. I was shooting color negative film on this particular day, but I prefer this achromatic version of the image I was able to grab before the administrative assistant threw me out. And while it’s nowhere close to the finest, most dramatic image of this Art Deco specimen, it’s one I can call my own.

In the background, toward the left side of the frame, we see where Newtown Creek enters the East River—with most of the visible land on that side of the river being Greenpoint, Brooklyn.

On my Way to Work, Part One

I’ll do a short series of posts now showing what I saw every day on my way to work back in 1991 or 1992.

First we see the Tappan Zee Bridge, the original version, built in 1955, on the Hudson River—near Tarrytown, New York. It is the longest bridge in New York State, along side which now sits an additional, or replacement bridge. Apparently this older bridge is actually named for Governor Malcom Wilson, while the new one is named for Governor Mario Cuomo, who was in office when I lived in there. “Tappan” refers to a group of Native Americas in the area, while “Zee” is the Dutch word for sea, as it’s at a wide part of the Hudson River.

The second shot was taken looking out the same side of the Metro North train, this time on the island of Manhattan, in Harlem. I’ve not tried to lock down the precise location, but I imagine it will be extremely difficult given how much the area has changed, with much new construction present (understatement).

After disembarking in Grand Central Terminal, an amazing, historic structure, built in the Beaux-Arts style, I would often look up to regard the Chrysler Building, as well as the Pan Am Building, both of which are just adjacent to the famous railroad terminal. This wonderful station was built by and for the New York Central Railroad.

The Chrysler Building is an Art-Deco masterpiece which opened in 1930; the Pan Am Building was built in 1963 and is of the International Style—with well-known Walter Gropius part of the design team. The Pan Am is notorious for having a heliport on its roof, which provided service to JFK International. This service was ended after a tragic accident occurred atop the roof in 1977, when five people were killed, one walking on the street below.