Southern Manhattan, Aerial Photograph

Aerial photo of the Southern Manhattan taken around 1930. Original caption: Lower Manhattan Island Looking South-west from An Airplane, New York City. Copyright by Fairchild Aerial Surveys, Inc. It produced low-altitude, oblique aerial views of a variety sites in New York State and went out of business in 1965. Source: Columbia Digital Library Collections.

The year 1930 estimated for this photograph is based on the construction of two buildings: The 40 Wall Street, completed in 1930, seen in the picture, and the 70 Pine Street, not seen under construction, which started the same year and was completed in May 1932. The New York Times reported in April 1931 that the steel had been erected to the 27th floor.

Despite the Great Depression, which started in 1929, skyscrapers continued to be constructed in New York at great speed until the early 1930s.