Another Moment Of Transition

From Max Hubacher, March 1950, “Brooklyn Bridge”: We’re looking west from the Manhattan approach, a bit west of the Manhattan anchorage. The Woolworth and Transportation Buildings on the left, and the Municipal Building on the right are still there; many of the foreground buildings, including the World Building with its four-story dome, were demolished not long after. The most interesting thing is the streetcar. Not its presence, but where it is: those are the elevated-train tracks, immediately adjacent to each side of the center pedestrian walkway. The two roadways (westbound north of the walkway, eastbound south of it) are three lanes wide. The original configuration had one train lane, one shared streetcar and vehicle lane, and one vehicle lane in each direction. The trains were originally shuttles that only ran between the terminals at each of the bridge, but were replaced by extensions of Brooklyn elevated lines after 1898. The els were mostly removed in 1940 and the last of them…