Part 7 - World Building - the late years and the end

This is the seventh and last part about the World Building's history now. We followed it's tracks until the 1910s and now start in the early 1920s.

Here are two early aerial views of the City Hall Area, shot from a plane in 1924. First we see the whole area around the City Hall Park and then a part of the picture focussed on Newspaper Row and the World Building (watch out for the dome). Source for the pictures is

http://gis.nyc.gov/doitt/nycitymap/



Next picture is dated to be taken in 1925. We see the Municipal Building on the left side of the World Building and a new small building with billboards on it's roof on the lot of the Sun Building.

This picture from 1927 is one of my favorite World Building pictures too, because of the interesting light effects.

Followed by two pictures from 1929, I am sorry, only a low resolution.

We reach the year 1930 and there is another versions of the wellknown pictures showing City Hall and World Building and Newspaper Row.

The next two pictures were taken in 1932 at the Manhattan train station behind the Brooklyn Bridge. The interesting detail is an airship over the Municipal Building on the first picture.

The World Building in 1933:

The Newspaper Row in the year 1936, I think it is the same picture I used at the end of the last two parts.

Here are two pictures showing the ground level of the World Building:

Here is the only detailed color picture of the World Building I know, taken in 1941:

The last pictures I found are dated to be taken in the year 1945. Here is were the tracks end.

Hmmm - is this picture really from 1945? I don't know. But have a look at the Tribune Building. And what about the Sun Building, back from holidays? I think this picture was dated wrong.



There are no pictures from the last 10 years of the World Building. It was torn down in 1955 to create a better and easier access for cars to enter the Brooklyn Bridge. I don't know the reason, but the World Building isn't the only building, that was demolished in New York City while ignoring it's unique history. It seems that the people of the 1940s and 50s only saw a bad old building, not a landmark. The World Building, a New York skyscraper of the first generation, the highest office building on earth for a couple of years, became 65 years old.

Before we close, I take the Google Maps Street View for a small journey to the place, were the World Building used to be. Here is the present look of the area:

THE END

Sources: Google, NYCityMap and NYPL Digital Gallery