There’s a small collection at the Library of Congress with the title “View of New York in 1894 (?)”. (The question mark is part of the collection title. The date 1894 is written directly on the photos but I guess there’s not enough other evidence.) The photos were taken by John S. Johnston and are the usual touristy-type photographs taken with the bulky professional camera equipment of the day. The one above is “Brooklyn Bridge and Brooklyn, N.Y. from the World Bldg.” and there are a few interesting things in it.
First, the World Building – home of the New York World newspaper – was briefly the tallest occupiable and occupied building in the world before the Masonic Temple in Chicago was built. New York got the title back with the Manhattan Life Insurance building and then the Park Row Building, before we got to 1900 and the real race began. So taking a shot from there was as close as you could get to aerial photography in 1894.
Brooklyn’s low skyline makes it hard to pick out landmarks, but the row of large piers – one of the keys to the city’s wealth at that time – jumps out at me. On the New York side, the industrial waterfront along the East River includes the shot tower on the right and – at a relatively early date – a billboard advertising electrical wiring, facing travelers on the Brooklyn Bridge. This angle, with the bridge’s span compressed by perspective, shows off the height of the towers.
The tall building halfway between the bridge and the shot tower is the Healy Building at Gold and Ferry Streets. It meets the criteria for inclusion in The Structure of Skyscrapers, but it’s an oddball. It’s a warehouse, which was a common use for tall buildings further uptown, but not so close to the financial district; despite the relatively open facades and large window area, it’s a bearing-wall structure; and oddest of all, it has wood-joist floors. In general, flammable construction was prohibited for tall buildings, but this building slipped through based on its use and location.
