MANHATTAN SKYLINE II
From Weehawken, New Jersey
November 9, 1937. ABBOTT FILE 258

SS Normandie, discarded image (CGLI)

From across the Hudson at Weehawken, New Jersey, Abbott photographed the Manhattan piers and skyline. Prominent in her panoramic view was Pier 88 used by the French Line's SS Normandie, the world's largest and fastest oceanliner, seen to the left of the pier. In 1938, Abbott photographed the departure of the Normandie departure, but discarded the image from the project.

The midtown skyline was dominated by the new R.C.A. Building (1933) and its Rockefeller Center brethren, the RKO Building (1932) and Time & Life Building (1937). In the distance can be seen the spiky top of the General Electric Building (1931) on Lexington Avenue and the domed crown of the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel (1931) on Park Avenue. Less prominent are the spire of St. Patrick's Cathedral and the squat mass of the second Madison Square Garden (1925-1966). Today the gigantic mixed-use tower of Worldwide Plaza (1989) stands on the site of Madison Square Garden between 49th and 50th Streets and Eighth and Ninth Avenues, blocking the view of the older skyscrapers.

By titling this photograph Manhattan Skyline II, Abbott paired it with Manhattan I, a view of the lower Manhattan skyline taken the previous year from Pier 11 on the East River. Both views, which show a few spires rising dramatically from a mass of low-rise structures, have now been "filled in" with the numerous, less distinguished office towers of subsequent building booms.

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