Cliff and Ferry

Cliff and Ferry Streets (1935). This is one of my favorite photographs from the series.  Abbott captured the image while standing just north of the intersection between Cliff and Ferry streets, pointing the camera in the direction of Lower Manhattan.  The foreground shows a narrow, dark 19th Century street, with a horse-drawn cart standing just before what was the intersection of Beekman and Cliff streets. In the background, rising from the haze and the 20th Century, are 111 John St, 116 John St, and 60 Wall St (now 70 Pine St).

Today, Ferry St no longer exists, and it is not possible to stand on the same location as Abbott’s, as the area was redeveloped in the 1960s to build the Southbridge Towers.  I took the photograph on the right standing as close as possible to what would have been Abbott’s vantage point; we can still see 111 John St (the burnt-orange building).