Though skyscrapers may be commonplace in any modern city, one question remains about the construction of our urban landscape that sometimes hits one hundred stories high: How did these guys not mess their pants? They, of course, have no fear of heights, but that doesn't make us any less queasy.
From sky-high workers taking a nap to the painters tasked with giving the Eiffel Tower a nice shellac, here are 21 photos of old-school iron workers without a trace of acrophobia.
1
“Men sleep on beams 60 floors high building the Rockefeller Center skyscraper, the RCA Building (now known as the GE Building) September 20, 1932.”
2
“Men painting the top of the Woolworth Building 1930’s.”
3
“Electrical workers balance high up on the Eiffel tower in Paris to change the lights that illuminate the tower at night, Oct. 29, 1937.”
4
“Workers paint the Eiffel Tower, 1924.”
5
“A man repairs the antenna on the World Trade Center, NYC, 1979. Photo by Peter Kaplan.”
6
“My dad took this photo of his coworkers working on a skyscraper- Late 80s.”
7
“Carl Russell waving to his co-workers on the structural work of the 88th floor of the Empire State Building. Sep, 13. 1930.”
8
“Construction workers from 1928 in Missouri.”
9
“Steelworker touching the tip of the Chrysler Building - 1931.”
10
“A construction worker carries a sack across a beam working on a 71-story skyscraper on 40 Wall Street, New York City, 1930.”
11
“Iron Worker, Chicago, 1968.”
12
“NYC iron workers, 1930s.”
13
“Miss 'Collie' Collier, a reporter for the Chicago Herald-Examiner, working on an iron girder atop the Wrigley Building in 1920.”
14
“My grandfather working on the construction of the Verrazano Bridge (1960).”
15
“Workers finished the final touches at EPCOT - opened 1982.”
16
“An iron worker, perched on the west tower of the Sky Ride, drinks an Edelweiss beer during construction of the World's Fair in 1933.”
17
“Iron Worker on Manhattan Bridge, 1980s.”
18
“Two waiters serve two steel workers lunch while building the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel on Park Avenue in NYC, 1930.”
19
“My iron worker cousin building Boston in the 70s.”
20
“An Iron Worker Enjoys a Cup of Joe While Building the CN Tower in Toronto, Ontario, Canada (1973).”
21
“Iron workers moving a section of the World Trade Center antenna, 1979.”
