cassgilbert

The building was completed in 1913, so this image must be from between 1910 and 1913.

Great! We'll narrow the date range and add the area of New York City and the Municipal Building identification from the tags.

World's tallest building, when it opened on April 25, 1913. Built for $13,500,000 -- and financed completely in cash by owner Frank W. Woolworth, the pioneer dimestore entrepreneur.

Also, the photo is looking North, you can see the Metropolitan Life building (completed in 1909) just to the left in the distance and the East River and Roosevelt Island on the right side of the photo off in the distance.

"On the same day she photographed the DePeyster Statue at Bowling Green, Abbott photographed the sculpture in front of the nearby U.S. Custom House, architect Cass Gilbert's Beaux-Arts masterpiece (1907).

"The four allegorical groups, designed by Daniel Chester French, represented Asia, America, Europe, and Africa, denoting the Custom House's function as the nation's leading point of entry for the world's goods.

"... Abbott stood on the Custom House steps and juxtaposed two of the sculptures--America and Asia--with George B. Post's Victorian Produce Exchange (1884) beyond..."
--More: Museum of the City of New York

... and look what happened ninety-eight years later... www.flickr.com/groups/woolworths/ wonderful exposition in this photograph of the vision and the materials and tools set out to build up through the empty space...