Lunch atop a Skyscraper facts for kids

Lunch atop a Skyscraper, Oct. 2, 1932

Lunch atop a Skyscraper is a famous black-and-white photograph. It was taken on September 20, 1932. The picture shows eleven ironworkers sitting on a steel beam. They are 850 feet (260 meters) above the ground. This was on the 69th floor of the RCA Building in New York City.

The photo was set up as a way to get attention for the new skyscraper. This is called a publicity stunt. It was first shown in October 1932. This was during the time the Rockefeller Center was being built. In 2016, a company called Visual China Group bought the rights to the picture.

Many people thought Lewis Hine took the photo. But the real photographer is still unknown. Some clues pointed to Charles Clyde Ebbets. However, it was later found that other photographers were also there that day. Many people have claimed to know who the men in the photo are. But only a few have been officially identified. Ken Johnston, who manages old photos for Corbis, called the picture "a piece of American history."

About the Famous Photo

The RCA Building in December 1933 during the construction of Rockefeller Center

This photograph shows eleven men eating lunch. They are sitting on a steel beam high above the city. The photo was taken on September 20, 1932. It was on the 69th floor of the RCA Building. This building is now known as 30 Rockefeller Plaza. It is part of Rockefeller Center in Manhattan, New York City.

The men in the picture were immigrant ironworkers. They helped build the RCA Building. They were used to walking on the high steel beams. The photo was taken to help promote the new skyscraper. Other pictures taken that day show the workers playing football. Some even pretended to sleep on the beam. You can see Central Park in the background of the photo.

History of the Photo

The photograph first appeared in a newspaper on October 2, 1932. It was in the New York Herald Tribune. The caption said: "Lunch Atop a Skyscraper."

In 1995, a company called Corbis Images bought many old pictures. The Lunch atop a Skyscraper photo was part of this collection. It came from the Acme Newspictures archive. The photographer was not named at first.

According to Ken Johnston from Corbis, the original photo negative was made of glass. It had broken into five pieces. This important negative is kept safe in a special storage place. It is in Pennsylvania.

In 2016, Visual China Group bought the part of Corbis that owned these images. This included the famous Lunch atop a Skyscraper photo.

Who is in the Photo?

The Photographer

We still don't know for sure who took the picture. For a long time, people thought it was Lewis Hine. This was because they mistakenly thought the building was the Empire State Building.

In 1998, Tami Ebbets Hahn saw a poster of the photo. She thought it might be one of her father's pictures. Her father was Charles C. Ebbets (1905–1978). In 2003, she contacted Corbis.

Ebbets was in charge of taking photos for Rockefeller Center in 1932. His job was to help publicize the new skyscraper. His daughter found a paycheck for him. It showed he earned $1.50 an hour. She also found the ironworkers' photo and a picture of her father with a camera. It looked like he was at the same place.

After looking at the clues, Ken Johnston said he believed Ebbets was the photographer. Corbis even agreed for a while. But later, it was found that other photographers were also there. These included Thomas Kelley and William Leftwich. Because of this, the photographer is once again listed as unknown.

The Ironworkers

Many people have claimed to know who the men in the photo are. A documentary film from 2012, called Men at Lunch, looked into some of these claims. It suggested that two men were from Ireland. The film confirmed two men: Joseph Eckner, who is third from the left, and Joe Curtis, who is third from the right. They were identified by comparing them to other photos taken that day.

The first man on the right, holding a bottle, has been identified as Gustáv (Gusti) Popovič. He was a worker from Slovakia. The photo was found among his things. On the back, he had written a note: "Don't you worry, my dear Mariška, as you can see I'm still with bottle."

Names of the men, from left to right

Why the Photo is Important

Ashley Cross from the New York Post called this photo "the most famous picture of a lunch break in New York history." Many artists have used or copied it in their own works. A sculptor named Sergio Furnari even made a 40-foot-long (12 m) statue based on it. This statue was shown near the World Trade Center site after the September 11 attacks.

Even though some people say it was just a publicity stunt, Ken Johnston called it "a piece of American history." The photo was taken during the Great Depression. It has become a symbol of New York City. Construction workers often re-create the scene. Time magazine put the image on its 2016 list of the 100 most important images.

In 2012, Johnston talked about why the photo is so special:

There's the unusual idea of eating lunch 800 feet in the air. And these guys look so calm about it. It's a strong feeling: some people tell me they get scared looking at it because of heights. And you can really feel the personalities of these men through their faces, clothes, and how they are sitting.

The photo also inspired a new ride called "The Beam." It opened in December 2023 on the 69th floor terrace of the former RCA Building.

See also

• List of photographs considered the most important

Images for kids

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  Close-up of the 11 men sitting on a steel beam.