Fifth Avenue Looking North from 49th Street - St. Patrick’s Cathedral, Double-Decker Buses & Midtown Traffic, New York City. (watermarks do not appear on the actual photograph.)
Fifth Avenue Looking North from 49th Street - St. Patrick’s Cathedral, Double-Decker Buses & Midtown Traffic, New York City. (watermarks do not appear on the actual photograph.)
Fifth Avenue Looking North from 49th Street - St. Patrick’s Cathedral, Double-Decker Buses & Midtown Traffic, New York City. (watermarks do not appear on the actual photograph.)
Fifth Avenue Looking North from 49th Street - St. Patrick’s Cathedral, Double-Decker Buses & Midtown Traffic, New York City. (watermarks do not appear on the actual photograph.)
Fifth Avenue Looking North from 49th Street - St. Patrick’s Cathedral, Double-Decker Buses & Midtown Traffic, New York City. (watermarks do not appear on the actual photograph.)
Fifth Avenue Looking North from 49th Street - St. Patrick’s Cathedral, Double-Decker Buses & Midtown Traffic, New York City, 1922
33.8 x 26.7 cm
East Side 5th Av. North 49 St. April 3.1922
Further images
Vintage oversized gelatin silver photograph by Irving Underhill, depicting the east side of Fifth Avenue looking north from 49th Street, New York City, dated April 3, 1922. This beautifully detailed urban view captures Midtown Manhattan at a moment of rapid transformation, with St. Patrick’s Cathedral rising dramatically above Fifth Avenue while automobiles, double-decker buses, pedestrians, shopfronts, and early traffic-control infrastructure fill the avenue below.
The image is inscribed in the negative: “C.15216 — Irving Underhill, NYC” and “East Side 5th Ave. North from 49th St. April 3, 1922.”
Underhill was one of New York’s important early 20th-century commercial photographers, widely known for architectural views, cityscapes, skyscrapers, bridges, and postcard images of the city. His photographs are represented in major institutional collections, including the Library of Congress, New York Public Library, Museum of the City of New York, and Brooklyn Museum.
The photograph offers exceptional period detail. Open-top double-decker Fifth Avenue buses move along the avenue, packed with passengers on the upper decks. Early automobiles line the curb and cross the street. A traffic control booth stands in the middle distance, recalling the era before modern traffic-signal systems. Pedestrians animate the sidewalks and crosswalks, while the Gothic stonework of St. Patrick’s Cathedral contrasts with the increasingly commercial and vertical architecture of 1920s Midtown.
This view records Fifth Avenue just as it was becoming the grand commercial boulevard of modern New York. The older residential and ecclesiastical character of the avenue is still visible, but automobiles, buses, traffic control, department stores, and tall buildings announce the new city of the Jazz Age. A scarce and highly desirable oversized mounted photograph by Irving Underhill, combining architectural importance, street life, transportation history, and a precise dated New York location.
Photographer: Irving Underhill, New York
Title / inscription: East Side 5th Ave. North from 49th St. April 3, 1922
Location: Fifth Avenue at 49th Street, looking north, New York City
Date: April 3, 1922
Medium: Vintage gelatin silver photograph mounted on board
Image size: 13.3 × 10.5 in.
Board size: 16.75 × 13.3 in.
Condition: Very good image quality with strong detail; mounted on original board
Provenance
Irving Underhill