The photo immediately struck a chord with the American public. 2, 1932.īackdropped by a spectacular view of Central Park, the photograph depicts New York City’s immigrant workers - who were mostly Irish and Italian but also Native American - as they break from their work building up the city in spite of the risks. The photograph titled “Lunch Atop A Skyscraper” or “New York Construction Workers Lunching on a Crossbeam,” was taken 69 floors from the ground and was first printed in the New York Herald-Tribune on Oct. ![]() ![]() Getty Images Construction workers relax on the beams of a construction building in New York City. The photos feature workers perched precariously on the skeleton of a skyscraper and their daily work appeared to be more like a death-defying stunt than an average 9 to 5.īut the most iconic of these photographs is no doubt the one of several workers eating lunch on a construction beam hovering hundreds of feet in the air with no obvious signs of worry. That notion is illustrated best by the photographs shot atop Rockefeller Center during its construction. The thing was, you had to be willing to die.” Indeed, as John Rasenberger, author of High Steel: The Daring Men Who Built the World’s Greatest Skyline, put it: ![]() The project was considered remarkable not only because of its sheer size but also because of the economic impact it had on the local economy.Īccording to Christine Roussel, an archivist at Rockefeller Center, the construction project employed somewhere around 250,000 workers in the midst of the Great Depression.īut there was a catch: laborers had to work hundreds of feet above the ground and with little safety gear. The image was actually captured atop Rockefeller Center during its construction.Īt 850 feet above the city streets, Rockefeller Center - now one of the city’s most storied buildings - was a massive undertaking launched in the early 20th century. Getty Images An iron worker balances himself on a beam 15 floors high.Ī popular misconception about “Lunch Atop A Skyscraper” is that it was taken on top of the Empire State Building.
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