New York City Urban History Seventh Avenue Street Conditions with the Hermitage Hotel and Broadway Theatre 1916

Vintage New York City

Photograph

Original gelatin silver print dated March 20, 1916, documenting Seventh Avenue between 40th and 41st Streets in Manhattan during the transition from horse-drawn and streetcar transportation to increasingly common automobile traffic. The image records the Hermitage Hotel, the Broadway Theatre associated with Paramount Pictures, surrounding commercial buildings, and the condition of the street surface, placing architectural and transportation history within a precisely identified municipal streetscape.

Gelatin silver print, black and white, measuring 7.5 x 9.5 inches. The date “3-20-1916” appears along the bottom edge. A vintage tag identifies the location and camera position: “Location - 7th Ave, 40-41Sts. Camera at Sta 276+02, 15' W of center line. View - Facing north, showing condition of street surface.” Automobiles and streetcars occupy the roadway, while the Hermitage Hotel and Broadway Theatre provide fixed architectural reference points for the view.

The combination of exact location data, camera station, direction of view, and stated purpose indicates that the photograph was made as a survey record of street conditions rather than as a general city view. Its detailed documentation of roadway use, commercial architecture, and transit traffic provides a dated record of Midtown Manhattan in 1916. Very minor chipping to the edges; overall very good condition.

Item #14883

Price: $240.00