MCNY Blog: New York Stories

Iconic photos of a changing city, and commentary on our Collections & Exhibitions from the crew at MCNY.org

Category Archives: Photography Collection

Construction of the 74th Street Power Station

For the past two weeks I’ve had the pleasure of digitizing our photographs of the construction of the 74th Street Power Station located on the East River between 74th and … Continue reading

June 12, 2012 · 3 Comments

Prizefighters

If anyone had asked my opinion on boxing a few weeks ago, my response would have been tepid at best. I’d never really given the sport much thought. And yet … Continue reading

May 29, 2012 · 7 Comments

Saving the Interior of the Plaza Hotel

Landmark designations are not only for buildings. Any piece of property that the Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) deems to have important cultural, aesthetic, or historical characteristics may become a landmark. … Continue reading

May 22, 2012 · 3 Comments

The Struggle to Save the Austin, Nichols and Co. Warehouse

“This building is a piece of trash, and it should be knocked down.” – Simcha Felder, member of the New York City Council and chair of the council’s Subcommittee on … Continue reading

May 15, 2012 · 1 Comment

Penn Station and the Rise of Historic Preservation

After reading Lauren Robinson’s fantastic blog post about the return of Mad Men, I found myself haunted by the destruction of the original Penn Station. And as I dug deeper, … Continue reading

May 8, 2012 · 16 Comments

Mott Haven Historic District

The neighborhood of Mott Haven is located in the South Bronx, and is situated on a portion of land historically referred to as Morrisania, named after the powerful Morris family … Continue reading

May 1, 2012 · 5 Comments

Riding the Subway with Stanley Kubrick

As most New Yorkers know, the subway system is the lifeline of New York City.   In 1946 Stanley Kubrick set out as a staff photographer for LOOK Magazine to capture … Continue reading

April 24, 2012 · 82 Comments

It’s Toasted: Mad Men and New York City

The digital team is eagerly awaiting the return of Mad Men to television on Sunday, March 25, after a 17-month hiatus. In anticipation of this, we have  pulled together an … Continue reading

March 20, 2012 · 2 Comments

How Harlem River Speedway Became Harlem River Drive

Before it was called the Harlem River Drive, the parkway running north and south along the west bank of the Harlem River was called the Harlem River Speedway. Construction began … Continue reading

February 28, 2012 · 17 Comments

The digital team reflects on Valentine’s Day

We here in the digital lab have conflicted feelings about today’s holiday.  So we’ve pulled images from our collection that express a variety of  viewpoints about romance and Valentine’s Day. … Continue reading

February 14, 2012 · 2 Comments

Opening Night! Top Banana

The digital team has begun digitizing  thousands of images from the rarely-seen archives of the Lucas-Pritchard / Lucas-Monroe Studios, preeminent Broadway production photographers in New York City from about 1936 … Continue reading

January 17, 2012 · 8 Comments

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