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VANDERBILT AVENUE Vanderbilt Avenue,
File Drawing By covering New York Central's open railway yards on Fourth (later Park) Avenue, the Grand Central Terminal complex, built by Warren and Wetmore between 1903 and 1913, transformed a noisy, dirty eyesore into prime real estate. In accordance with Warren and Wetmore's concept of a "terminal city," the streets surrounding the terminal were soon lined with elegant, austere, brick-and-limestone skyscrapers of 13 to 16 stories. The five-block Vanderbilt Avenue, named for railroad magnate Commodore Cornelius Vanderbilt, typified the "terminal city" concept. Vanderbilt Avenue,
File Map Vanderbilt Avenue was taken in the first month of the Changing New York project. Several months later, Abbott photographed a nearby site, facing west on 46th Street from Lexington Avenue. In this more daring composition, she pointed her camera slightly upward without correcting the distorted perspective and, in one version, cropped off the underexposed sides to emphasize the image's verticality. She titled the photograph Canyon, perhaps intending a midtown companion to the downtown Canyon: Broadway and Exchange Place. Abbott, however, discarded the Lexington Avenue view in favor of Vanderbilt Avenue. Canyon: 46th Street
and Lexington Avenue, discarded image (full negative) All the buildings still stand, although several have been remodeled. Return to the Middle East Side |
