NEW YORK TELEPHONE BUILDING, variant image

The Eastern side of West Street was lined with cheap hotels, bars, luncheonettes, auto repair shops, and gas stations. Rising over these low-lying buildings and filling an entire city block from West to Washington Streets and from Barclay to Vesey Streets was an Art Deco behemoth, the headquarters of the New York Telephone Company, at 140 West Street.

WEST STREET WITH NEW YORK TELEPHONE BUILDING, 1930-33 (CGLI)

Designed with a huge base, setbacks, and a tower, the Telephone Building (1926) offered an influential solution to the height and mass restrictions of New York's 1916 zoning law. The 17-story base contained telephone services and maintenance, and the 15-story tower, which was rotated 45 degrees to align it with the nearby towers of Broadway, served as corporate offices. Noted for its innovative design and luxury detailing, the building was awarded a medal of honor by the Architectural League.

Hoboken Ferry Terminal, 1931 (CGLI)

Focusing on the building's southwest corner, Abbott emphasized its bulk and the elegant detailing of its setbacks. The photograph's exaggerated perspective dwarfs the neighboring World Telegram Building, which rose ten stories. In a series of variants, Abbott photographed the northwest corner of the Telephone Building, showing the pedestrian bridge across Barclay Street to the Hoboken Ferry. From this view, the differing orientation of the tower and base is clearly seen. Prior to the 1934 completion of the World Telegram Building, Abbott had photographed the building more conventionally from afar, contrasting the old tenements and traffic of West Street with the massive volume of the new skyscraper. From inside the New York Telephone Building, she made one of her favorite photographs, which showed the early morning crowds leaving the Hoboken Ferry terminal across West Street (O'Neal, 148).

The Telephone Building stood in the shadow of the World Trade Center, which it bordered on Vesey Street. It is still used by New York Telephone (now NYNEX) and is a designated landmark. The World Telegram Building at 150 West Street remains, with the now empty scaffolding of the huge World Telegram sign still on its roof.

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