Vintage photos of New York City
Photographers, early 1900s: unknown; Photographer 1955: James W. Watson


1910. Singer Building, world's tallest

1913. Woolworth Building, world's tallest

Date unknown, probably 1930s. Battery Park, elevated train, Castle Garden, Bowling Green. Date unknown but after the one to the left. The white cube Brooklyn Tunnel ventilation building has replaced tenements, the el has been dismantled, Castle Clinton has been remodeled - the roof has been removed, and more landfill has extended Battery Park.

1931 1959


1923. HMS Leviathan, Singer Building. 1933.

1931. The yellow dot is about where my condo building sits now. The piers were removed as the railroad and airfreight took over the shipping duties. Battery Park City was built on landfill where all those piers were. The blue dot is where the World Trade Center was. The tall building just above the blue dot is the phone building (now Verizon) that was damaged but has reopened.




Looking across the East River, Manhattan, and the Hudson River to Jersey City, New Jersey.

Looking from the Newark airport. Fall 2012

All of the following 1955 photos were taken by my father during our family vacation to NYC.
1955. From the Statue of Liberty ferry. The Verizon Building is the large building about 1.5 inches in from the left.

1955. From the Empire State Building, looking north. 1955. From the Empire State Building, looking northeast, Chrysler Building.

1955. From the Empire State Building, looking south, Flatiron Building, downtown. 1955. Battery Park looking north.

Battery Park City

1959. Battery Park.


A beach where Battery Park City now sits. The Marriott Hotel is under construction to the right of the brand new World Trade Center North Tower.

The riverwall indentation is the site of South Cove.

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