Vintage Viewfinder

Vintage Viewfinder Step into the past—one photo at a time. Capturing the evolution of American streets and skylines.

1894 - Looking west down 59th St from Fifth Avenue. Central Park is on the right, the Plaza Hotel would be built a decad...
09/03/2026

1894 - Looking west down 59th St from Fifth Avenue. Central Park is on the right, the Plaza Hotel would be built a decade later on the left.

1933 - Knickerbocker Village, between the Brooklyn and Manhattan Bridges. Shown here are Monroe St on the right, Hamilto...
09/03/2026

1933 - Knickerbocker Village, between the Brooklyn and Manhattan Bridges. Shown here are Monroe St on the right, Hamilton St (now gone) on the left.

The area known as Lung Block, for its high number of TB cases, was a slum and in the 1920s slated for renewal.

Today it’s home to the Knickerbocker Village apartment buildings with a large common courtyard in the middle.

1910 - The Grand Central Hotel, at 677 Broadway, north of Bleecker Street.The eight-story, 400-room Grand Central Hotel ...
09/03/2026

1910 - The Grand Central Hotel, at 677 Broadway, north of Bleecker Street.

The eight-story, 400-room Grand Central Hotel opened in 1870 and was built in the Second Empire style by architect Henry Engelbert for carpet manufacturer Elias S. Higgins.
Located at 667-77 Broadway (near Bond Street, south of West 3rd Street), it was one of the largest hotels in the United States when it was built and was lavishly furnished. In the late 19th century, the hotel with its restaurants and grand spaces became a hub of New York society.

As the 20th century progressed, the hotel’s name was changed to the Broadway Central, and its luster faded. By the 1960s and after changes in ownership, the building came to be used as a welfare hotel.

Re-branded as The University Hotel by the early 1970s, the hotel attempted to salvage its image. But years of neglect and un-reported interior renovation work had taken its toll on the hundred year old structure.

In 1973, a large section of the Broadway side collapsed onto the street, killing four people. The rest of the building was soon demolished.

Housing for NYU Law School students was eventually built on the site and remains today.

1953 - Hunters Point/Long Island City, 45th Avenue at 21st Street.Basically unchanged- although the street is now full o...
09/03/2026

1953 - Hunters Point/Long Island City, 45th Avenue at 21st Street.

Basically unchanged- although the street is now full of mature trees.

1907 - Singer Building tower nearing completion, at Broadway and Liberty St.The original 10-story Singer Building at 149...
09/03/2026

1907 - Singer Building tower nearing completion, at Broadway and Liberty St.

The original 10-story Singer Building at 149 Broadway was erected between 1897 and 1898, and the adjoining 14-story Bourne Building on Liberty Street was built from 1898 to 1899. In the first decade of the 20th century, the two buildings were expanded to form the 14-story base of the Singer Tower, which rose another 27 stories.

With a roof height of 612 feet (187 m), the Singer Tower was the tallest building in the world from 1908 to 1909, when it was surpassed by the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company Tower.

The base occupied the building’s entire land lot; the tower’s floors took up just one-sixth of that area.

Despite being regarded as a city icon, the Singer Building was razed between 1967 and 1969 to make way for One Liberty Plaza (Black building in the ‘now’ photo), which had several times more office space than the Singer Tower.

At the time of its destruction, the Singer Building was the tallest building ever to be voluntarily demolished- and tallest until 270 Park was demolished from 2018-2021.

1886 - The newly completed Potter Building, on Park Row and Beekman St. It replaced the former headquarters of the New Y...
09/03/2026

1886 - The newly completed Potter Building, on Park Row and Beekman St. It replaced the former headquarters of the New York World, which was built in 1857 and burned down in 1882.

It was designed by Norris G. Starkweather in a combination of the Queen Anne and neo-Grec styles, as an iron-framed structure.

The Potter Building was also one of the first iron-framed buildings, and among the first to have a “C”-shaped floor plan, with an exterior light courtyard facing Beekman Street. The original design remains largely intact.

The Potter Building was converted into apartments in 1981 and was designated a New York City landmark in 1996.

1890 - Dakota Apartment Building, at 73rd St and Central Park West- Looking east down 73rd at the western facade and loo...
09/03/2026

1890 - Dakota Apartment Building, at 73rd St and Central Park West- Looking east down 73rd at the western facade and looking south along Central Park West.

There are still mostly shanties and subsistence farms- but the street grid and park are complete.

This is definitely one to zoom in on…

1936 - 222 Columbia Street, Brooklyn Heights.The home was built in 1865 for the Cornell family stood at the end of Colum...
09/02/2026

1936 - 222 Columbia Street, Brooklyn Heights.

The home was built in 1865 for the Cornell family stood at the end of Columbia Heights, the street overlooking the East River in Brooklyn Heights.

Named for its original owner, Peter Cornell, a Red Hook-born manufacturer of gun powder, the house was better known as the residence of Seth Low, the mayor of Brooklyn, later NYC mayor and president of Columbia University.

Although Brooklyn Heights was designated a historic district in 1965, the home was demolished during the construction of the Brooklyn Queens Expressway and Promenade in the 1950s.

In 1980 a new small apartment house was constructed on the site. Replicating the general shape of the original building and to meet landmark regulations, this new structure was rendered in modern brown, glazed bricks and attempted its best at modern infill to the historic neighborhood. The rounded moldings of the facade have prompted some to refer to the home as the Tootsie Roll House.

Photo by Bernice Abbott

1897/ 1924 - The Abigail Adams Smith Residence, now Mount Vernon Hotel Museum, at 421 East 61st Street (York Avenue).Bui...
09/02/2026

1897/ 1924 - The Abigail Adams Smith Residence, now Mount Vernon Hotel Museum, at 421 East 61st Street (York Avenue).

Built in 1799, it is one of only a few structures from pre-1800 in Manhattan.

The house was originally planned in 1795 as an estate for Colonel William S. Smith and his wife, Abigail. The Smiths never completed the building; it was ultimately built as a carriage house and stable in 1799 for the nearby estate of William T. Robinson. Joseph Coleman Hart bought the house and converted it into a hotel in 1826.

The Mount Vernon Hotel operated in a city experiencing huge commercial growth after the opening of the Erie Canal. Its location offered guests a respite from the bustle of city life. In the 1830s, the commercial shipping and business districts of New York City lay below City Hall, while private residences extended as far north as modern-day Chelsea, and it was common for upper- and middle-class residents and visitors to take day trips to the then-rural setting that is now midtown Manhattan. One of over 50 day hotels in or near New York City, the Mount Vernon attracted middle-class guests with leisure activities like boating trips (the pop. of NYC was 123k in 1820, grown to 202k by 1830) and be home downtown by sunset.

The Mount Vernon Hotel operated until 1833, when it was purchased by Jeremiah Towle, who converted it to a private residence. His daughters continued to live in the house through 1905, when the Standard Gas Light Company bought the house and erected gas tanks nearby. The Colonial Dames of America purchased the site in 1924 to use as its headquarters. In 1939, the house opened to the public as the Abigail Adams Smith Museum.

In the early 2000s there was an unsuccessful attempt to rebrand the area around the museum as “Mount Vernon”. At that time, the blocks immediately surrounding it were not given a specific name, and much of the former Mount Vernon estate had been demolished to make way for the Queensboro Bridge, which had opened in 1908. This area is considered part of the Upper East Side or Lenox Hill today.

1923 - Yankee Stadium just before it’s grand opening- the mezzanine and upper grandstands weren’t completed until later ...
09/02/2026

1923 - Yankee Stadium just before it’s grand opening- the mezzanine and upper grandstands weren’t completed until later in the 1920’s.

It was demolished in 2009 and the current Yankee Stadium was built next door.

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