"EL," SECOND
AND THIRD AVENUE LINES, PEARL STREET
MARCH 6, 1936. ABBOTT FILE 75A
"EL," SECOND
AND THIRD AVENUE LINES, HANOVER SQUARE AND PEARL STREET
MARCH 6, 1936. ABBOTT FILE 75B
HANOVER SQUARE
MAY 25, 1936. ABBOTT FILE 131
Hanover Square File
Map
When the Third Avenue Elevated was erected in 1878 on Hanover Square, the old park, named for George I of Hanover, lost its pastoral character. During the building boom of the late 1920s, the square was dominated by new office buildings. Standing under the El and pointing her camera skyward, Abbott captured the disorienting experience of the modern city by transforming the geometric forms of the tracks, their shadows, and the skyscrapers into abstract compositions. Abbott determined that both variants--one taken from under the tracks, which reveals the Munson Building (1921), and the other taken from the east side, which shows the Wall and Hanover Building (1927)--warranted printing. On a map establishing Abbott's camera position within the square's maze of streets, project researcher Everett Gratama unraveled Abbott's visual conundrum.
HANOVER SQUARE, VARIANT
IMAGE
In March and April, Abbott photographed other sites under the Third Avenue El, and in May she returned to Hanover Square. This time, she stood across the square and recorded the tracks from a greater distance. She took two exposures, varying the lens and altering spatial relationships within the image. In both versions, the distant skyscrapers--99 Wall Street and 120 Wall Street--and 110 Pearl Street (right) maintain constant positions within the frame. With the shorter lens, the foreground space is wider and deeper, giving a clearer view of the parking lot, newsstands, and public toilets nestled under the El; with the longer lens, the foreground space is condensed. Abbott favored the condensed version.
When the El was torn down in 1951, Hanover Square once again became a small park, and in the 1970s and 1980s, more skyscrapers joined those built in the 1920s. In 1976, the statue of Abraham DePeyster that had once graced Bowling Green was installed in the park, where it stands today.