“Gateway to the Atlantic: North German Lloyd Building and Bowling Green, New York City , 1906”, 1906

Step into the vibrant heart of Lower Manhattan in 1906 with this remarkable fine art print — a rare window into an era when New York Harbor was the bustling gateway to the Atlantic world.

At the center of the composition lies Bowling Green Park, the city’s oldest public park (established 1733), beautifully landscaped with its round garden, ornamental fountain, and crowned by the bronze statue of Abraham De Peyster — colonial mayor of New York (1691–1695), sculpted by George Edwin Bissell in 1896.

Overlooking this elegant scene is the stately North German Lloyd Building (5-11 Broadway), the American headquarters of one of the world’s most prestigious steamship lines, famed for carrying countless immigrants, tourists, and transatlantic cargo between Bremen and New York.

Visible in the vibrant street life are electric streetcars negotiating tight curves along Battery Place and Broadway; early automobiles and horse-drawn carriages coexist on the busy streets. People stroll or sit in the park — one figure can even be seen reclining on a bench for a midday nap.

To the right, we glimpse Anchor Line’s offices (another shipping company), the Stevens House Hotel, and Bowling Green Offices. A subway entrance and newsstand mark the arrival of modern rapid transit in the city — the Inter-borough Rapid Transit (IRT) subway had opened in 1904, transforming the district.

This dynamic urban scene captures a moment of transformation: the city of immigrants, commerce, and international shipping, poised on the eve of World War I, when North German Lloyd’s ships would soon be interned or seized as the U.S. entered the war.

Exclusively from my private archive, this particular 1906 view of Bowling Green and the North German Lloyd Building does not appear in major public archives — making it an exceptionally rare and collectible image for history of NYC enthusiasts.