01.18.26: Old versus new

‍When it comes to my photography interests, there are quite a few subjects that catch my attention.

‍Wildlife is near the top of the list. That’s obvious with the many thousands of bird photos in my files and the amount of time I spend hiking through fields and forests with my camera.

‍But I also enjoy travel photography, especially when the travel takes me to a big city. That’s when much of my focus turns to architecture.

‍I particularly like shots showing the contrast of different types of architecture, especially old versus new. And this photo taken in New York a couple of decades ago has always been a favorite.

‍I didn’t set out to photograph the Delmonico’s Building, the focus of this scene. I was actually hurrying to a meeting in the Financial District (as always, I had a camera in my briefcase) and had made a wrong turn while walking the maze of old, narrow roads around Wall Street. I stopped for a couple of seconds to look for a street sign so I could determine how to get back on course when the sun broke through the overcast skies and spotlighted the historic Delmonico’s Building a couple of blocks ahead. 

‍It was like the heavens had opened and said “here’s your shot.”

‍I pulled my camera from my bag, stepped out between parked cars into the middle of William Street — hoping not to get run over by a driver on the narrow road — and clicked off this shot before the sun disappeared.

‍I liked how the building was surrounded by newer, taller structures. 

‍I was initially concerned about the white column on the right that supported a construction crane working on a neighboring building, but when I saw the scene through the viewfinder I knew that column just added to the old versus new theme.

‍The Delmonico’s building, 56 Beaver Street at the five-pointed intersection of Beaver, William, and South William streets, is a New York City designated landmark and a contributing property to the Wall Street Historic District, a National Register of Historic Places district. The building was completed in 1891 as the location for Delmonico’s restaurant. The building replaced an earlier building that had housed Delmonico’s since 1837.

‍And Delmonico’s restaurant still occupies the ground floor of the eight-story building. But that doesn’t mean Delmonico’s has operated in the building continuously since 1891. The restaurant has disappeared a number of times in the last century because of financial issues, ownership changes, relocations, or business downturns during wars, depressions, and pandemics. But after more than a century since the building was completed, there’s still a Delmonico’s on the ground floor.

‍And, yes, Delmonico steak is the restaurant’s famed dish. That’s how the steak got its name.