Alejandro Prince

An aerial photograph shows an overhead view of Manhattan, New York City, captured in 1931... Most of Manhattan at this time was dominated by low-to-mid-rise brick tenements, warehouses, and commercial buildings (typically 3 to 5 stories high), prior to the massive wave of modern skyscraper construction. The tall spike rising in Midtown (a short distance south of Central Park) corresponds to the Empire State Building, which was completed in 1931. . . . The photo shows how much of Manhattan was still low-rise at the time. Long stretches of the island were filled with row houses, tenements and small apartment buildings, laid out along the famous street grid. That grid dates to the Commissioners’ Plan of 1811, which mapped out Manhattan’s numbered streets and avenues long before most of the island was built up. But 1931 was also the height of New York’s first great skyscraper race. The Chrysler Building was completed in 1930, and the Empire State Building opened in May 1931, becoming the tallest building in the world, a title it held for nearly 40 years. Airships were a familiar sight in the sky. Germany’s Graf Zeppelin flew over New York several times in the late 1920s and early 1930s, drawing huge crowds. The Empire State Building’s spire was originally designed as a mooring mast for airships, so passengers could disembark in midtown Manhattan. Strong winds at that height made it far too dangerous, and the idea was abandoned. #drthehistories