Buzz
The Great Depression gave rise to some of the most impactful images of the 20th century, vividly portraying the struggles and despair of a nation grappling with unemployment. Pictures of breadlines, crumbling homes, and mothers in distress shaped public awareness by highlighting the harsh realities of the Depression in newspapers nationwide. However, Lunch Atop a Skyscraper stood apart.
The image of 11 Rockefeller Center construction workers nonchalantly enjoying their lunch on a beam suspended 850 feet above the ground offered a glimmer of hope during the 1930s. It symbolized that New York City—and the entire United States—continued to grow, innovate, and, above all, persevere.
More than 90 years have passed since the photo was first published in the New York Herald-Tribune on October 2, 1932. Below are 10 captivating facts about Lunch Atop a Skyscraper.
Uncertainty still surrounds the true identity of the photographer behind this iconic image.
While the picture of these workers perched high above Midtown has become a permanent fixture in our collective memory—adorning walls, T-shirts, and fridge magnets—the photographer’s identity remains a mystery. Charles C. Ebbets is often suggested as the likely candidate and was even credited for a time. However, other photographers, including William Leftwich and Thomas Kelley, were also present that day. As a result, both the Rockefeller archive and Corbis have left the credit as “unknown.”
Ken Johnston, the former Historical Director of Photography at Corbis Images, noted that it was common practice before the 1950s for photographers to go uncredited for their work.
Lunch Atop a Skyscraper was staged entirely as a promotional effort.
Despite its seemingly candid portrayal of workers’ lives high above the bustling city streets, the photograph was orchestrated solely for publicity purposes. The scene of 11 men casually dining on a beam 69 floors up was far from ordinary and was carefully arranged to promote the construction of Rockefeller Center.
“The photograph was part of a promotional campaign for the Rockefeller Center,” Johnston explained to the UK’s Independent. “While the workers were genuine, the event was staged with multiple photographers present.”
Captured during the Great Depression, a time when 15 million Americans were unemployed, the image of a thriving city and its hardworking laborers provided a rare beacon of hope for the public.
Other daring photographs were also taken on the same day.
The iconic shot wasn’t the only one captured that day. Alongside various poses of the 11 men on the beam, there’s also a seldom-seen image of four workers lying across the beam, catching a quick nap.
This lesser-known photo belonged to the International News Photos archive, a rival of the Acme Newspictures archive, which originally held Lunch Atop a Skyscraper. The photographer behind this image remains unidentified.
The original glass plate negative of Lunch Atop a Skyscraper is safeguarded in a Pennsylvania cave ...
To ensure the safety of the photo’s original glass plate negative, it was stored in a vast underground vault near Pittsburgh in Butler County, Pennsylvania. Known as Iron Mountain, this highly secure facility covers 1.8 million square feet and houses invaluable artwork, photographs, film negatives, musical compositions, and government records from across the globe.
The entire facility is climate-controlled to preserve aging artifacts; a dedicated team works to digitally and physically restore the millions of items stored within. An underground lake helps regulate the temperature by circulating 50-degree water throughout the mine.
... And it’s seen some wear and tear.
Despite its historical significance, the original negative of Lunch Atop a Skyscraper has suffered damage. At some point, likely after Corbis obtained it, the glass negative was dropped, resulting in cracks and breaks.
However, there’s no need to worry about the photo’s long-term preservation, as Johnston notes: “Before the negative was damaged, several high-quality prints were produced, and copy negatives were created to simplify future printing. As a result, numerous excellent duplicates are available for use.”
A documentary played a key role in identifying two of the men in the photo.
Similar to the mystery surrounding the photographer, the identities of the 11 workers have also eluded historians. While it’s confirmed they were genuine construction workers, records from that era were incomplete, leaving only anecdotal clues about who they were. Director Seán Ó Cualáin, while researching for his documentary Men at Lunch, uncovered some of the answers that had long been sought.
“We essentially began with nothing, and without the help and dedication of Christine Roussel, the archivist at Rockefeller Center, we would have faced significant challenges,” Ó Cualáin remarked in an interview with Rockefeller Center.
By examining numerous archival photos from Rockefeller’s collection, Roussel and Ó Cualáin successfully identified two of the men: Joseph Eckner (third from the left) and Joe Curtis (third from the right). The identities of the remaining nine workers, however, remain a mystery.
Over 40,000 individuals contributed to the construction of the building, yet no employment records have survived.
The inspiration for Ó Cualáin’s documentary came from a note left by Pat Glynn in a pub in Shanaglish, Galway, Ireland. Attached to a copy of Lunch Atop a Skyscraper, Glynn asserted that his father and uncle-in-law, both from south Galway, were among the men pictured on the beam that day.
“What surprised us most was that, despite the photo’s global fame, no one had attempted to identify the men or the photographer before us,” Ó Cualáin explained. This curiosity led to the creation of the documentary.
Ó Cualáin located Glynn and his cousin Patrick O’Shaughnessy, who believes his father is one of the men in the photo. While the physical resemblances are compelling, Ó Cualáin notes that the absence of official work records makes definitive identification nearly impossible.
According to Rockefeller Center’s website, more than 40,000 workers were employed during the building’s construction, and it’s noted that “the lack of surviving records is somewhat surprising.” With no documentation and only limited evidence, the identities of most of the men may remain unknown.
One of the workers may have been of Mohawk heritage.
It’s no surprise that Rockefeller Center was constructed with the labor of immigrants, including those from Ireland, Italy, and Germany. However, one often-overlooked group that contributed significantly was the Mohawk people, who resided in northern New York and southern Canada after supporting the British during the Revolutionary War.
The Mohawk community developed their ironworking expertise on Canadian construction projects and later migrated to New York for opportunities on landmarks like the Empire State Building, the George Washington Bridge, and Rockefeller Center. While many Mohawks settled in the city, particularly in Brooklyn’s Boerum Hill area, Rockefeller noted, “Most men would leave their families in Canada, drive 12 hours to the city on Sundays, and return home at the week’s end.”
Although unconfirmed, it’s speculated that one of the men in the photo—positioned near the center, wearing a cap and holding a cigarette—is Peter Rice, a Mohawk ironworker. Other Mohawk names have been suggested for the remaining men, but no definitive identifications have been made.
Some historians question the perceived danger of the photograph.
To truly unravel the mystery behind the photo, consider the perspective of a New York Times writer who argued that the image was not just a staged publicity stunt—it was also far less perilous than it appeared. One article suggests that just below the men, hidden from the camera’s view, was a completed floor where they could safely step down (or, in the event of an accident, land on). However, like many aspects of this iconic image, the truth remains shrouded in history.
The photo was Corbis’s most popular historical image.
Corbis held the rights to the glass negative of Lunch Atop a Skyscraper from 1995 until 2016, when the company sold its image archive to Visual China Group, which partners with Getty. During that period, it was Corbis’s top-selling historical image, averaging approximately 100 sales per month for a decade. This is particularly notable for a company that owned photographs of 20th-century legends like Albert Einstein and Martin Luther King Jr.
