Early New York skyscrapers

The view looks south along Pine Street toward two early skyscrapers: the Hanover National Bank Building on the left (southwest corner of Pine and Nassau, 1901-1903, James E. Baker) and the American Surety Building on the right (100 Broadway, southeast corner of Pine and Broadway, 1894-1896, Bruce Price). Between them, a row of older, smaller commercial buildings survives on Pine Street.   

The large excavation in the foreground is the site of the old Equitable Life Building at 120 Broadway, destroyed by fire on January 9, 1912, during the early stages of excavation and foundation work for its replacement. An identical view in the collection of the New-York Historical Society, attributed to the commercial photography firm George P. Hall & Son, is dated 1913 and identifies the excavation as the Equitable site, which places this photograph during the early stages of foundation work for Ernest R. Graham’s new Equitable Building (completed 1915).  

 The American Surety Building, one of the first skyscrapers in New York to use a full steel skeleton, still stands at 100 Broadway, though its proportions were significantly altered when the building was widened by four bays on both street fronts in 1920–1922. The Hanover Bank Building was acquired by Bankers Trust in 1929 and demolished two years later to clear the way for the expansion of 14 Wall Street. The smaller buildings visible between the two towers on Pine Street are also gone. Of the principal structures framing this view, only the American Surety survives. 

$4,500