Reach Out And Touch A Building

From Max Hubacher, May 14, 1950, “Manhattan (Elevated)”: Both the tall buildings and the rolling stock were at least thirty years old at that point. It also feels like if you opened the windows on the train[1] you could grab a brass ring off the fire-escape on the left. It must have been quite loud in the offices directly adjacent on both sides of that street; before electrification, the smoke from the engines must have been unbearable in those offices. It’s easy enough to place the photo. The sign on the right says that Hubacher was standing on the platform at the Hanover Square station, which opened in 1878 as part of the Third Avenue elevated. Here’s a 1905 map: and a 1930 map: which are remarkable for their similarity. Maybe the els were a blight and maybe they weren’t, but lower Manhattan developed a great deal in that 25 years while Pearl Street did not. In any case, the yellow stripe at the bottom of the 1905 map is more or less the footprint of the platform of the Hanover…