Vintage Images of Fifth Avenue
The 5th Avenue is a major thoroughfare in Manhattan. It stretches 10 km north from Washington Square to West 143rd Street in Harlem. It has major attractions, hotels, temples, iconic stores and more.
Fifth Avenue first appeared on the Commissioners' Map of 1811, when it was a country road to Yorkville, on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. Construction began in November, 1824, from Art Street (now in Washington Square) to 13th Street.
Later in the 19th century, the avenue became a site of mansions, cultural institutions, fashionable life and luxury hotels. The midtown blocks between 34th and 59th streets were mostly a residential area until the turn of the 20th century, when they were developed as commercial areas. The asphalt pavement was laid down in 1898. the section south of Central Park was widened 1908 and after. Many entrances, porticos and sidewalk stairs were removed. Skyscrapers began to be built on the avenue in the early 20th century. The Empire State Building was completed in 1931, on the west side of Fifth Avenue, between West 33rd and 34th streets, replacing the old Waldorf-Astoria Hotel. The famous skyscraper was the world's tallest building until 1970.
More: Fifth Avenue in the 19th Century ►
Fifth Avenue and 42nd Street, New York, early 20th century (circa 1912). Published by Detroit Photographic Co.
Madison Square is to the right.
The beginning of Fifth Avenue.
Central Park and buildings in the east side of Fifth Avenue. In the foreground, roof of the Trump Parc. Photo taken around the 1990s.
Waldorf–Astoria in the background.
Old Waldorf-Astoria Hotel on the left, around 1909 and 1914.
North from 42nd St. between 1908 and 1915.
Between 1907 and 1910.
Madison Square in to the right.
Looking north from 40th Street.
New York Public Library at 40th Street.
Between 1905 and 1915.
Old Waldorf-Astoria Hotel is on the left.
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North from 42nd Street, between 1905 and 1910.
Vintage Images of Fifth Avenue
From Grand Army Plaza, with the Vanderbilt House to the right.
