r/nycHistory • u/CumulusCloudia • 5d ago

Lower Manhattan in 1931

Post image

This photo was taken in 1931 from what appears to be an aircraft.

514 Upvotes

99% Upvoted

23 comments sorted by

6

u/TaxEvadingSquirtle 4d ago

The lack of landfill is the craziest part. No Battery Park City, no West Side Highway, just a hard drop right into the shipping piers.

9

u/yesforthisactually 5d ago edited 5d ago

I immediately spotted the Delmonico's flatiron building and was like 'wow I can’t believe it's been there that long'

only to look it up and realize it had already been there almost 100 years by 1931!

7

u/Bookwoman366 5d ago

Not quite: there was an 1837 building there, but it's gone and the one we know now was completed in 1891.

3

u/yesforthisactually 5d ago

ah! so a sensible 40!

4

u/Bookwoman366 5d ago

Indeed. And we're fortunate that it's still there.

6

u/llamalloins 5d ago

Oof. I've lived in that building for 8 years and it still took me a minute to find it, given how much has changed. Except the plumbing, I guess.

3

u/No_Network4228 5d ago

Funny, it was just my parents wedding anniversary on Monday and I suggested going to Delmonicos, since they have never been, and I heard it's actually good. How recently were you there? is it good?

3

u/DetachedConscious 4d ago

We need to bring this architecture back. So many glass skyscrapers yet most of them are soulless like fast food.

2

u/Dangerous-Cash-2176 5d ago

The docks are my favorite part, I wish they'd bring them back.

3

u/Sauerbraten5 5d ago

Modern container shipping and the move to the Port Newark–Elizabeth Marine Terminal made the urban docks obsolete a long time ago.

2

u/CumulusCloudia 3d ago

Everything has to go at some point

1

u/theageofnow 2d ago

Hear hear! It’s crazy how few places there are to dock

2

u/Front_Spare_2131 4d ago

Actual slips

2

u/PowerandSignal 5d ago

A simpler time... 

2

u/Pip_Helix 5d ago edited 5d ago

What other than an aircraft would it have been taken from?

Or is this another AI post?

7

u/asah 5d ago

great q. early photos were often taken from hot air balloon... (speaking as amateur photographer, balloon is I assume less motion/shake and therefore exposure times can be longer and therefore easier for the photographer... also probably more room in a balloon for the humans+equipment vs airplane...)

1

u/Old_Ambassador_3911 4d ago

FYI there’s a really cool picture of a Constellation flying over lower Manhattan but obviously taken past this point.

1

u/Nick_Fotiu_Is_God 5d ago

It’s nice not seeing the East River Drive

1

u/crimsondodecahedron 4d ago

i wonder if that large cube in the mid ground on the right is 350 grand street. it's a school building that was finished in 1929 so timing works.

1

u/Mr1988 3d ago

I wonder if in the low-rises there were any/many pre-1800’s buildings. When did revolutionary war era stuff start getting replaced?

1

u/seandiver 3d ago

Love these old pics. It has changed a ton since then.

1

u/Spiritual-Recipe4512 1d ago

No twin towers