New York City in the Fifties

Those were years of great economic prosperity and great cultural transformation in the United States. New York City's population decreased from 7.89 million residents in 1950 to 7.78 million in 1960, with increasing suburbanization in the New York metropolitan area. However the City's development never stopped.

Civil rights movement gained momentum. Broadway was still glamorous and the cityscape was in continuous transformation. The United Nations Headquarters was completed in 1952. Several skyscrapers were built, like the 28-story tower at 600 Fifth Avenue, completed in 1952, the last addition to the Rockefeller Center, the Lever House at 390 Park Avenue, built in 1952, the 32-story building at 425 Park Avenue, completed in 1957, the 34-story 1065 Avenue of the Americas, built in 1958, the 38-story Seagram Building, completed in 1958, the 48-story Time & Life Building at 1271 Avenue of the Americas, completed in 1959. Guggenheim Museum opened in 1959.

The fifties set the stage for the cultural revolution on the sixties.

Copyright © Geographic Guide - NYC in the 1950s.

◄ Old City of New York

Crowd gathered on fountain steps of Washington Square Park - Fall of 1953. Photograph by Angelo Rizzuto, Library of Congress.

Looking south from Wall Street.

North from 87th Street.

Showing 19th century structures on the site of the old St. Nicholas Hotel.

Broadway, looking north from Houston Street.

New York City in the Fifties