King's Views of New York - I

A few years back I was browsing through this antiques shop when I happened to spot something that almost took my breath away. It was a slightly battered copy of this magnificent book, published sometime in the 19-teens, titled "King's Views of New York." I picked it up, carefully paged through it and after just a few pages I knew I'd pay whatever rediculous price was being asked for it - it was stunning. Well, the price turned out to be semi-reasonable - they wanted $25.00. I'm sure if it had been in better condition the price would have been much higher - but I was glad to pay it. I've been thinking about posting some of the photos here for a while now - and I finally got around to scanning some of them this weekend so here we go with part 1. I'll post additional photos sporadically over the next few weeks.

Click on the "See Large" links beneath each photo to see them in much greater detail.

(Images from: King's Views of New York)


Front Cover


(See Large)
Future New York - is preeminately the city of skyscrapers. It's first steel-frame structure, the Tower Building, at 50 Broadway, reaching a height of 129 feet., was regarded as a skyscraper, with its 10 stories; now there are in Manhattan 1,048 buildings of 11 stories or more. The skyline reached 612 ft. in the Singer Tower, 700 ft. in Metropolitan, 792 ft. in Woolworth, and the new Pan-American Building is to be 801 ft. high. Of the 92,749 buildings in Manhattan, 2,956 are fire-proof, 286 semi-fire-proof, and 6,963 frame, 82,544 brick and wood.


(See Large) Photo: 1914 Irving Underhill
Skyline of Lower Manhattan from Jersey City, showing the world's highest building, Woolworth, 792 ft. and greatest Municipal Building, the Park Row Bldg., 382 ft., first structural wonder of the 20th century; three marvels of 1908: 200,000 ton twin Hudson Companies' buildings, 34-story City Investing Bldg., and 612 ft. Singer Tower, the three accomodating 41,000 tenants. Manhattan Island, 19.65 sq. mi. purchased in 1626 from Indians for about $24, land value now $4,100,000,000 exclusive area occupied by streets; total realty value with improvements, is $6,250,000,000, average $450,000 per acre. The island has 2,538,606 inhabitants; lower end has office population of 400,000; land here is worth from $200 to $600 a sq. ft. and office space rents at from $1 to $40 a sq. ft., making profitable the erection of costly sky-scrapers.


(See Large) Photo: 1911 Irving Underhill
Manhattan, as seen from Governor's Island, showing the remarkable skyline formed by the gigantic skyscrapers, with the 34-story annex to the Whitehall Building, 416 ft. high, the City Investing Building, 486 ft., the Singer Tower, 612 ft., the buildings rising one above the other like castellated cliffs, affording a remarkable spectacle when illuminated at night, here the Hudson and East Rivers from New York Bay, whose broad channels stretch seven miles to the Narrows, while there are 14 square miles of anchorages, this is the commercial and geographical center of New York, with the berths of the transatlantic steamships on the Hudson and the centre of the coast-trade on the East River; over 6,000 craft daily traversing these waters; about 3,000 immigrants a day are landed at the Barge Office, $3,500,000 is the daily average of imports of foreign merchandise.


(See Large)
Manhattan from Brooklyn, view of the sky-scrapers of the financial district and lower business section of the ciy from Columbia Hieghts, showing the busy East River, center of the enormous coastwise and Long Island Sound commerce; the oldest part of the harbor, where ships were built in the early days of the city; modern piers now being erected, the shipping capacity of this part of the waterfront trebled within five years. Fulton Market a landmark since 1821; Fish Market, in the new building, overhanging the water, the most important institution of this sort in America. From the Army Pier supplies are shipped to the American Posessions in the Orient. The low ground between the Park Row Building and the waterfront, known as "The Swamp," is the Leather District. The chemical industries centre about the Woodbridge Building.


(See Large) Photo: Date N/A - Irving Underhill
Brooklyn, view from Manhattan, showing the great manufacturing districts on either side of Wallabout Bay, where the United States Government maintains its greatest navy yard, and the upper part of the extensive system of piers and stores that make Brooklyn the greatest point in the world for the trans-shipment of merchandise, goods being received by trucks from factories and by cars carried on floats, lighters and steamers, and forwarded to every land. From Fulton Ferry south for three miles are the piers and stores of the New York Dock Co., which extend to the mouth of the East River, along Buttermilk Channel and around Red Hook, and include Atlantic Basin, which alone has three miles of wharfage and can berth nine ocean steamships. The East River at this, it's narowest point, is the busiest stream in the world, with 6,000 craft passing daily.



...to be continued.