VINTAGE MANHATTAN SKYLINE

Evolution of Manhattan skyscrapers and urban landscape during 20th Century. Curated by Erick Christian Alvarez Soto from his own books and postcards collection. An amateur history of New York skyscrapers from Mexico City.

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The 50-story Chemical Bank of New York headquarters. 277 Park Avenue, occupied entire block between east Park Avenue between 47th to 48 Streets. Emery Roth & Sons, 1962-1964.

Construction of Chemical Bank of New York at 277 Park Avenue, in January 1964, when the building was nearing completion. The Pan Am Building (Emery Roth & Sons-Walter Gropius-Pietro Belluschi, 1963) are at left and the Union Carbide Building (Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, 1960, demolished in 2021) can be seen just behind the new tower.

Photo: Cauldwell Wingate.

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Midtown Manhattan looking south from R.C.A. Building, in august, 1970.

The Empire State Building (Shreve, Lamb & Harmon, 1931) dominates the skyline with the Twin Towers of World Trade Center (Minoru Yamasaki Associates-Emery Roth & Sons, 1973) under construction are at background. The Interchem Building (Emery Roth & Sons, 1969) and the new J.P. Stevens Building (Emery Roth & Sons, 1971) under construction are at right, foreground, and the steel skeleton of One Astor Plaza (Kahn & Jacobs, 1972) under construction are at background, at far right.

Photo: Hiroshi Isogai.

Source: HARRIS, Jr., Arthur; ISOGAI, Hiroshi (1973), "New York" This Beatiful World. Tokyo, Kodansha International.

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Aerial view looking northwest of Lower Manhattan's Financial District new skyscrapers. Autumn, 1970.

The recently completed One Battery Park Plaza (Emery Roth & Sons, 1970) and the new One State Street Plaza (Emery Roth & Sons, 1971) under construction appears above Battery Park and the tint tower of Seamen's Church Institute ). The steel skeleton of the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center (Minoru Yamasaki Associates-Emery Roth & Sons, 1973) under construction rises above them.

The 50-story bee hive like aluminum and glass curtain-wall facade of One New York Plaza (William Lescaze Associates-Kahn & Jacobs, 1969) rises at center, above East River, and shows the damage of August 5th, 1970 fire. The new 41-story Two New York Plaza (Kahn & Jacobs, 1971) are nearing completion and the steel skeleton of the future 55 Water Street tower begun to rises up. Just above them can be seen the towers of 40 Wall Stret (Henry Craig Severance-Yasuo Matsui, 1930), City Bank Farmers Trust (Cross & Cross, 1931) and behind them, the modern One Chase Manhattan Plaza (Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, 1961) building. The Cities Service (Clinton & Rusell, 1932) building are visible at far right.

Photo: Unknown.

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Aerial view of Midtown Manhattan skyline looking north. Autumn, 1970.

The Empire State Building (Shreve, Lamb & Harmon, 1931) dominates the ever changing skyline with Rockefeller Center's R.C.A. Building (Associated Architects, 1933), and the 500 Fifth Avenue tower (Shreve, Lamb & Harmon, 1931) just behind it. The withe skyscraper at right, backgorund is the General Motors Building (Edward Durell Stone-Emery Roth & Sons, 1968).

The steel skeletons of One Astor Plaza (Kahn & Jacobs, 1972) and Uris Plaza (Emery Roth & Sons, 1972) towers, both under construction, are visibles on the extreme left of the picture. On the center, just at left of the Empre State, the steel skeleton of the Rockefeller Center's Exxon Building (Harrison, Abramovitz & Harris, 1971) under construction dominates the new Avenue of the America's office towers corridor with the Interchem Building (Emery Roth & Sons, 1969) and the new J.P. Stevens Building (Emery Roth & Sons, 1971) nearing completion.

Photo: Unknown.

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33 West 51st Street Building (Harrison & Abramovitz, 1956).

A Rockefeller Center project originally conceived in 1956 as the headquarters for Equitable Life Insurance. Designed with 60 stories and a limestone-and-glass façade, it echoed the late Art Deco style of the original complex. The project was soon suspended, revived as a hotel proposal in 1959, and finally reformulated as an office building at the beginning of the following decade (the Sperry Rand Building).

On the blog "Historia de los Rascacielos de Nueva York", we’ve published the first part of our photo gallery on Manhattan in 1956 — a year when modernization was already visible. The Socony Mobil Building was completed, the Seagram Building began to rise, and designs like One Chase Manhattan Plaza and the Union Carbide Building foreshadowed the skyline of the 1960s.

👉 Read more: https://historiadelosrascacielosdenuevayork.blogspot.com/2025/10/1956-comienza-la-transformacion-del.html

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The 45-story Socony Mobil Building. 150 East 42nd Street, occupy the entire block between Lexington and Third avenues and 41st to 42nd streets. Harrison & Abramovitz, 1954-1956.

View looking southwest of Socony Mobil Building shorty after completion. View from the corner of 42nd Street and Third Avenue in Summer, 1956.

The Empire State Building can be seen at background, at left, and Chanin Building at right.

Photo: Wurts Brothers.

Source: Architectural Record, March 1957.

In 1956, the Socony-Mobil Building became the first skyscraper in the world to be fully clad in stainless steel. Designed by Harrison & Abramovitz, this 45-story tower not only redefined the skyline of Midtown Manhattan but also marked a turning point in postwar corporate architecture.

Explore its design, legacy, and historical context in our latest article -in Spanish- on the Historia de los Rascacielos de Nueva York blog: 🔗 https://historiadelosrascacielosdenuevayork.blogspot.com/2025/06/1956-el-socony-mobil-building-el-primer.html

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MIDTOWN MANHATTAN, FALL 1955

This October 1955 image captures the urban impact of nearly a decade of post-WWII building activity. Numerous modern, setback-style structures—mostly under 25 stories—appear east of Fifth Avenue, blending with the city’s iconic Art Deco towers from the 1920s and '30s. Among them, the under-construction Socony-Mobil Building signals the rise of a new generation of tall skyscrapers.

Prominent landmarks include the Chrysler Building, Waldorf-Astoria, Rockefeller Center, and the Empire State Building, still reigning with its 102 floors, as well as Central Park South's hotel row and the distant towers of the Financial District.

Photo: Fairchild Aerial Surveys.

Source: Las Maravillas del Mundo. España, Codex, 1965.

🏙️ 1955: Farewell to the Old, Welcome to the New

In 1955, New York City found itself at a crossroads—between the fading elegance of early 20th-century architecture and the bold rise of modernism.

This article reflects on that pivotal year, when demolition, development, and design trends reshaped the Manhattan skyline forever.

📖 Dive into the transitions that redefined the city’s identity. 🔗 Read the full piece -in Spanish- in "Historia de los Rascacielos de Nueva York":

https://historiadelosrascacielosdenuevayork.blogspot.com/2025/04/1955-adios-lo-viejo-hola-lo-nuevo.html

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The 16-story U.S. Rubber Annex Building (Harrison & Abramovitz, 1955) in Rockefeller Center. View looking southwest from 49th Street and Rockefeller Plaza. December 1955.

Photo: Rockefeller Center, Inc.

Source:

Krinsky, Carol Herselle (1978). Rockefeller Center. New York, Oxford University Press.

🧱 Sometimes the quietest buildings tell the biggest stories.

In 1955, the Rockefeller Center quietly added a new wing to the U.S. Rubber Building—no fanfare, no headlines. But this modest annex signaled the start of a new architectural mood.

Less Deco, more restraint. Less spectacle, more function.

Dive into the story -in Spanish- of a forgotten chapter in Midtown's evolution → 🔗 https://historiadelosrascacielosdenuevayork.blogspot.com/2025/06/rockefeller-center-1931-1974-parte-11.html

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The 25-story Colgate-Palmolive Building. 300 Park Avenue between west block between 49th to 50th Streets. Emery Roth & Sons, architect, 1954-1955. View looking southwest from 51st Street. Early, 1957.

Photo: Samuel H. Gottscho.

Source: Progressive Architecture, June 1957.

Today, on the blog "Historia de los Rascacielos de Nueva York", we travel back to the period between 1954 and 1955, when three of the first skyscrapers with prefabricated aluminum facades emerged in Manhattan, all located on Park Avenue: 99 and 460 Park Avenue buildings, along with the Colgate-Palmolive Building.

https://historiadelosrascacielosdenuevayork.blogspot.com/2025/03/1954-1955-edificios-99-y-460-park.html

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The 16-story 430 Park Avenue Building. West side of Park Avenue between 55th to 56th Street. Original Beaux-Arts residential building: Warren & Wetmore, 1916. Renovation an convertion to a modern glass, stainless steel and white brick office building: Emery Roth & Sons. 1953-1954.

View looking southwest of the 430 Park Avenue Building during its reconvertion into a modern office building. Early 1954.

Photo: Adolph Studly-Emery Roth & Sons. Source: Architectural Forum, May 1954.

Today on the blog "Historia de los Rascacielos de Nueva York," we explore the story of the 430 Park Avenue Building, the elegant residential building that was rebuilt into a modern office tower.

https://historiadelosrascacielosdenuevayork.blogspot.com/2024/12/1954-430-park-avenue-building-un.html

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HISTORIA DE LOS RASCACIELOS DE NUEVA YORK

Today, in the "Historia de los Rascacielos de Nueva York" blog (in Spanish), we share the article about two buildings of the transition to Modernism in the mid-20th century: the buildings 477 Madison Avenue and 261 Madison Avenue (1953 and 1954).

https://historiadelosrascacielosdenuevayork.blogspot.com/...

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Aerial view looking northeast of Midtown Manhattan in late September, 1970 with many new office skyscrapers.

The 102-story Empire State Building (Shreve, Lamb & Harmon, 1931) with the 40-story 1250 Broadway Tower (Shreve, Lamb & Harmon, 1969) are on center, foreground with the 77-story Chrysler Building (William Van Allen, 1930) are visible at backgroud. The Park Avenue’s modern skyscrapers corridor, with Pan Am Building (Walter Gropius-Emery Roth & Sons-Pietro Belluschi, 1963) are visible at background, at left. The United Nations’ Secretariat Building (Wallace K. Harrison, 1950) are at background, at right. The building under construction that can be seen just behind Empire State is the 45-story 600 Third Avenue Building (Emery Roth & Sons, 1971). The steel skeleton that be begun to rises up at extreme left, on foreground, is the future W.R. Grace Building (Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, 1972) under construction.

Photo: The Scheller Co.

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Aerial view looking southwest of Midtown Manhattan and Grand Central section. Autumn, 1970.

At left is the Chrysler Building (William Van Allen, 1930). The Pan Am Building (Walter Gropius-Emery Roth & Sons-Pietro Belluschi, 1963) are at right. The crown-topped tower under construction, at background, right, is the new 54-story One Astor Plaza (Kahn & Jacobs, 1972) in Times Square.

Photo: Flash Press Agency. 

Source: Pala, Enciclopedia Juvenil para: la Vida Futura. Vol. 1. España, Pala, 1974.

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The new 32-story Chrysler Building East (Reinhard, Hofmeister & Walquist, 1952) at left, and the 77-story Chrysler Building (William Van Allen, 1930) en this view looking southwest from 44th Street and Third Avenue, in 1952. The 102-story Empire State Building (Shreve, Lamb & Harmon, 1931) and the 55-story Chanin Building (Sloan & Robertson, 1928) can be seen between two buildings, at background.

Photo: Ewing Galloway.

Source: "Around Manhattan Island. Cruise Guide Circle Line". New York. Circle Line, 1962.

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Midtown Manhattan skyline looking northwest from the top of Metropolitan Life tower. Summer, 1952. 

The Empire State Building (Shreve, Lamb & Harmon, 1931) are on foreground, center, dominating the skyline. 500 Fifth Avenue tower (Shreve, Lamb & Harmon, 1931) and Rockefeller Center’s R.C.A. Building (Associated Architects, 1933) can be seen at background, right.

Photo: Manhattan Post Card, Co./Dexter Press.Inc.

Don’t miss the new photogallery (in Spanish) about the evollution of the Manhattan skyline during 1952 (Part One) in the blog “Historia de los Rascacielos de Nueva York”.

https://bit.ly/2W9K19f

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Midtown Manhattan skyscrapers. View looking northwest from the top of Lincoln Building. Summer, 1955.

The Rockefeller Center complex dominated by 70-story RCA Building are at background, left. Central Park are visible at distance.

Photo: Acacia Card Company, New York, N.Y.

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Aerial view looking southwest of Midtown Manhattan. Summer, 1955.

The Empire State (Shreve, Lamb & Harmon, 1931) and Chrysler (William Van Allen, 1930) buildings are visible at center, above. The skyscraper under construction that be visible between Empire State and Chrysler are the new Socony-Mobil Building (Harrison & Abramovitz, 1956). The United Nations Headquarters (Wallace K. Harrison, 1948-1952) are at left, foreground. Rockefeller Center complex (Associated Architects, 1931-1940) are at right, above.

Photo: Skyviews Aerial Surveys.

Source: Wallock, Leonard. "New York Culture Capital of the World 1940-1965". New York, Rizzoli, 1988.