A very early “concrete canyon,” Fourth Avenue was one of the wonders of the world a century ago. At that time it was second only to Wall Street as a banking center. This view, from the skywalk between Oxford Centre and Macy’s, gives us some idea of what it looked like back then: an absurdly narrow street flanked by absurdly tall buildings. The Fourth Avenue bank towers are dwarfed now by the modern skyscrapers in the Golden Triangle, but the narrowness of the street still accents their height and makes the canyon seem even deeper.
