Sep 26, 2024 - Sale 2679

Sale 2679 - Lot 38

Price Realized: $ 2,750
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 1,000 - $ 1,500

WURTS BROTHERS PHOTOGRAPHERS (1894-1979)


Packet of photos from construction of the Woolworth Building. 1910-1913.
185 photographs, each 24x19 cm, 7½x9½ inches; mounted on linen with linen stubs; generally minor wear.

When completed in 1913, the Woolworth Building in Lower Manhattan was the tallest building in the world, a distinction it retained until 1930. These dramatic photographs document every phase of construction, from the preparation of the foundation to the completion of the interiors.

Many of these photos are variously credited to Wurts Bros., Architectural Photographers. Many are stamped on verso as received by the architect Cass Gilbert. Almost all have a dated credit caption in the negative listing Gilbert as the architect, usually naming the Thompson-Starrett Company or the Foundation Company as the contractors.