Anatomy of a Construction Site photo

A return to the glorious photos of the past, in which we try to provide some context by isolating certain subjects. The above picture was made on June 2, 1949. Let's take a closer look.    

    

Looking south from 47th Street, the newly named Franklin D. Roosevelt Drive offers two lanes each way. Off in the distance are the beams from the Con Edison power plant.

View of the construction site. At top left, the skeleton of The Secretariat building.

Another view, this time featuring some people walking.    

The new construction could not hide the one irritant, the row of smokestacks just south 0f the United Nations, the Con Edison plant. They would remain in place until it closed in 2005; in the meantime, they spewed soot.

And finally, the big three. In this photo, No. 25 and No. 45 take a beating with buildings along First Avenue torn down and replaced with stonework, the modernization of the 42nd Street Tunnel and 43rd Street staircase, and the construction of a tunnel beneath First Avenue. 

The good news is that all of these changes take place on the buildings' rear ends. 

TUDOR CITY from the REAR

For the holiday weekend, we've selected a group of photographs featuring the many flags of the United Nations. And, not incidentally, all of the pictures feature the backsides of Tudor City buildings. Happy Memorial Day.   

Anatomy of a Street Corner

 

This installment of our Anatomy Series concerns 42nd Street and First Avenue, specifically the northeast corner. It's a day in 1947 according to Brown Brothers, publisher of the photo.   

Moving to the bottom right, we see some construction and a sign saying Builders Cauldwell-Wingate Co. New York. The firm has been around since 1910 and is still in business today.   

What were they building? We suspect it was some kind of temporary thing in connection with the United Nations, a structure to house people needed onsite once the construction got going.  

Meanwhile, the building on the corner of 42nd and First appears to be empty, although it bears various advertisements. Here, we see a beer ad: None can compare to Skelly's Beer & Ale ‒ at the Best Taps in town.  

The corner of 42nd Street and First Avenue shows a neighborhood about to vanish. The store there has gone out of business; thus an ad for the picture Boomerang holds down one window, while the other promotes Ringling Bros. Barnum & Bailey Circus, appearing at Madison Square Garden April 9th. Turning the corner, Ford Trucks Last Longer reports Sutton Motors, while below it a waitress beckons Come Over for Coke.

The Snack Food Shop, apparently the sole functioning business in the building.  

To the left of Snack lies a parking lot where the United Dressed Beef Company parked their trucks.

Below this, on the street is a truck bearing some kind of surrealistic load. Weird!

Finally, at the bottom of the picture is a bus, part of the Surface Transportation System.

INSTAGRAMMABLE

 Once again, a tip of the hat to the talented Instagrammers who have supplied this week's post.

by lucas_d_in_nyc                      

by olrnyc           

by viewofmycity                     

by the_domenico_team     

by xandra_k._     

    

More United Nations

Once again, we return to the building of the United Nations for our subject matter. Today's pictures were made just as the Secretariat Building opened, around 1950.  

This is the new view along 43rd Street between 1st and 2nd Avenues. The building on the right is the rear entrance for the Hospital for the Ruptured and Crippled; the site later became the Ford Foundation.

The corner of 43rd Street and Tudor City Place. 

The remaining photos rely on a rather daffy sense of humor. NOW OPEN DAILY (above) is one such entry.

Another entry, BUILDING FOR LEASE gets its laughs from a reflection of the Secretariat Building in a shop across the street.  

The aptly named World Cafeteria, anxiously awaiting the United Nations opening.

INSTAGRAM Again

 Once again, a tip of the hat to the inspired Instagrammers whose work makes up this week's post.

 

BY GETTINVIGGY                        

BY SNOVAMASHA                       

BY AASHISH.KAUL                      

                     

BY WALKINGWITHLUCY                     

      

BY JOHN2001ABC                        

More MISCELLANY

 We bring you some odds and ends to start the New Year.

BEAUTY REVIEWS NEW YORK

Marian Marsh, the famous film star recently acclaimed the most popular of the younger generation of the film fraternity, forms a striking picture when viewing New York giants from a giant ‒ seen on the roof of her hotel with the skyscrapers surrounding her, showing the Tudor City residential district on right.

So reads the photo caption attached to this publicity still. This was taken around 1931, when Marian Marsh's hopes for Hollywood stardom were on the rise. After signing a contract with Warner Brothers, she was selected to appear opposite John Barrymore in Svengali (she played Trilby). It was not a smash-hit success, however, and after appearing in a number of other pictures, Marsh's contact was not renewed.

Her career never recovered. She eventually made more movies at sketchier studios, finally giving it up when she married in 1939. Her own press clippings were sold at auction years later, led by ‒ what else ‒ a Barrymore souvenir for Svengali, below.

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This cartoon ran in 1953 in the Daily News. Not much more can be said about it.

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A reader forwards a picture of what once was a New York taxicab ‒ a genuine Checker Marathon ‒ now retooled, repainted black and reserved for private use. It was photographed in the 43rd St. cul-de-sac opposite the United Nations.  

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NEW YORK, Jan. 27 ‒ WINTRY SCENE ‒ Pedestrians plod through the snow past the split rail fence enclosing Tudor City Park on New York's East 42nd Street last night after a winter storm deposited four inches of snow in the city. The area still had snow left from last week's storm. (AP Wirephoto)   

Another press photo to illustrate a more general topic, winter. It could have run any time, but the park's fence (and the parked car's tail lights) suggest the date was the early 60's. 

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Finally, a year ago, we ran a piece about repair work in Tudor City, which at the time included every building except The Cloister. A year later, the scaffolding has been removed from The Hermitage, No. 25, No. 5, the rowhouses along 43rd St., the city-owned playgrounds, the Church of the Covenant, and the 42nd St. entrance of Hotel Tudor (nka The Westgate New York).

The Manor, No. 45, No. 2, the 3-H's, Essex House, The Woodstock, and the 43rd St. entrance of Hotel Tudor remain under repair.

Happy New Year!

Instagrammable You

We once again welcome five talented Instagrammers who document Tudor City as it approaches its centennial, four years from now.

Temporary United Nations Mural by carosbai    

Five Gargoyles by citymousenyc  

An Opposing View by leahblesoff 

 

  Painted Not Photographed by jimmyadvice 

   

No. 45 and the United Nations by jamescampbelltaylor 

All in the DETAILS

The Tudor City Sign atop No. 45 and part of No. 25, at night.

South Park walkway to the Gazebo.

A riverview of No. 5, No. 25, No. 45, and The Woodstock.

An opposing view shows The Woodstock, No. 25 and No. 5.  

No. 45, caught between the Chrysler and Chanin Buildings.

THEN AND NOW

42nd Street comes to an abrupt end at the East River, then and now. 

1940

Above, the intersection of 42nd Street and 1st Avenue in 1940. The buildings all have something to do with the meatpacking industry. There is not much happening in the river, nor on the Long Island City side either.

2023

83 years later, the atmosphere is quite different. On the left there are buildings part of the United Nations, and on the right the air duct for the Queens-Midtown Tunnel. Across the river, once sleepy Long Island City is not so sleepy anymore. About the only thing surviving is the bed of rock in the river left over from the excavation for two trolley tunnels linking Manhattan to Queens in 1890. Today, the islet is owned by the state and is used as a sanctuary for migrating birds.