Church Street, east side, south from White Street, 1928.

The major street work depicted in this 1928 photograph is the cut and cover method of subway construction for the IND Eighth Avenue Line. The groundbreaking ceremony for this new line was held in March of 1925 at St. Nicholas Avenue and 123rd Street and the line opened to the public right after midnight on September 10, 1932 (four years nearly to the day after this photo was taken).

Church Street needed to be widened to accommodate the planned infrastructure. The west side of the street was moved back some 65 feet, with buildings demolished or truncated.

257 Church Street is the building at left on the south corner of Franklin Street, and in the hazy distance stands the Woolworth Building.