NEW YORK, 1920S
Seemingly undaunted by the 20-storey drop below, these ironworkers enjoy their lunch while working on a 152-metre-high skyscraper in Lower Manhattan. Their lack of safety ropes meant such workers became known as ‘cowboys of the sky’. The Roaring Twenties saw a construction boom as companies competed to build ever higher. By 1931, New York’s skyline had been completely transformed, with the Empire State Building towering over its neighbours at a grand 443.2-metres tall.