Architecture & Design &Photography Entropy | 18 May 2008
New York’s Bridges
I have an endless fascination with New York city and its Architectural Landmarks The building of New York’s bridges, photographed by Eugene de Salignac, De Salignac, it turned out, had worked for the Department of Bridges (later the Department of Plant and Structures) from 1903 to 1934. Vast reaches of infrastructure were laid down in those years, and his job was to provide a record: he shot the construction of the Manhattan and Queensboro Bridges and the Municipal Building; subway tunnels, trolley lines, and ferries. His images have an odd beauty and, at times, a subversive wit.
Painters on the cables of the Brooklyn Bridge, October 7, 1914. In September, 1914, he took a picture of painters dutifully at work on the Brooklyn Bridge; the department used it in an annual report. Two weeks later, de Salignac returned, and, in what seems like a magnificent gesture of playing hooky, the painters climbed freehand, with no safety equipment in sight, spreading out on the wires as though they were circus performers, or the notes of a jazz riff playing above the skyline.
The Brooklyn Bridge on its fiftieth anniversary, from the Manhattan Bridge, 1933.
The Queensboro Bridge, from the Ravenswood shore, August 8, 1907. 
The Manhattan Bridge, from Washington Street looking West, Brooklyn, June 5, 1908.
Photographs by Eugene de Salignac
Courtesy New York City Municipal Archives
© The New Yorker
on 28 May 2008 at 9:34 am 1.rick said …
great photos! thanks!
on 01 Jun 2008 at 11:22 pm 2.michele roohani said …
i have walked this bridge many times to reach brooklyn heights and look at manhattan’s skyline from there – it’s a magnificent bridge like the rest of NY’s architecture.
the picture of the painters on the cables is great! thank you my friend.
on 03 Jun 2008 at 12:30 pm 3.Nimesh Dadia said …
New York to me is the Antithesis of Paris , in terms of infrastructure , yet it feels the rhythym, the spirit, the vibe of both places are similar. Of Course the Megalomania of New York has fortunately not touched Paris.
But like Paris, New York has been the muse of great cineastes such as John Cassevetes, Jim Jarmusch, Woody Allen, Scorcecese…
The photos are incredible. The painters on Cables and the Manhattan Bridge was incredible.