--- title: Unseen New York: Photos of Gotham Before 9/11 Changed Everything description: George Forss' pre-9/11 photographs of New York City are both a celebration of, and an elegy for, a lost world. canonical: https://time.com/3879299/unseen-new-york-photos-of-gotham-before-911-changed-everything/ author: Liz Ronk article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-03-09T18:25:18.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T05:03:45.959Z og:title: Unseen New York: Photos of Gotham Before 9/11 Changed Everything og:description: George Forss' pre-9/11 photographs of New York City are both a celebration of, and an elegy for, a lost world. og:url: https://time.com/3879299/unseen-new-york-photos-of-gotham-before-911-changed-everything/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7c7379b206a299b5/69884b738e06010c8b46000d/140304-george-forss-new-york-14.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: The City Glows og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Unseen New York: Photos of Gotham Before 9/11 Changed Everything twitter:description: George Forss' pre-9/11 photographs of New York City are both a celebration of, and an elegy for, a lost world. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7c7379b206a299b5/69884b738e06010c8b46000d/140304-george-forss-new-york-14.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Lost City: Portraits of New York Before 9/11 Changed Everything by [Liz Ronk](https://time.com/author/liz-ronk/) ## Liz Ronk Mar 9, 2014 6:25 PM UTC  The City Glows, 1995; from One Pierrepont Street (Brooklyn Heights) rooftop The City Glows, 1995; from One Pierrepont Street (Brooklyn Heights) rooftop©George Forss/Park Slope Gallery by [Liz Ronk](https://time.com/author/liz-ronk/) ## Liz Ronk Mar 9, 2014 6:25 PM UTC Of all the world’s cities, New York is likely the most photographed. The Brooklyn Bridge; Times Square; Central Park; Coney Island; Harlem; the Lower East Side; the library’s lions; the Chrysler, Woolworth and Empire State buildings. It sometimes seems as if we’ve seen every possible view of the city—taken from [every conceivable angle](http://time.com/world-trade-center/)—and that there’s no way to really experience such a familiar place anew. And then, out of the blue, we encounter a fresh way to appreciate the greatest city on earth—and we’re reminded, again, how variegated, how _beautiful_, New York really is. In the early 1990s, at the urging of his long-time friends and gallerists, Phyllis Wrynn and Mitch Freidlin, a Bronx-born photographer named George Forss began to photograph New York from places—rooftops, towers, private balconies—to which very, very few people had access. Over the next decade, Forss created a remarkable chronicle of an unseen New York—a _new_ New York—captured from unique vantage points. The resulting pictures, collectively known as “The Access Project,” offer unexpected glimpses of sights that we thought we knew, while re-envisioning and, in a sense, reinvigorating the world’s most iconic cityscape. \[This LIFE.com gallery features 15 of the “Access” photos. [Find more here](http://www.parkslopegallery.com/gallery/main.php?g2%5FitemId=198).\] Finally, it’s worth noting that Forss took his last “Access Project” pictures a year before the 2001 attack on the Twin Towers. Not only has New York been physically transformed in the decade and a half since Forss stopped seeking out singular and secret places from which to shoot, but the entire atmosphere of the country has changed. There is simply no way, for example, that Forss would be allowed to shoot from the air traffic control tower at JFK Airport simply because an acquaintance who worked for the Port Authority invited him up to check out the view. In more ways than one, New York City—and America as a whole—is less free than it was 15 years ago. Seen in that light, George Forss’ pictures are both a celebration of, and an elegy for, a lost world. --- _Ben Cosgrove is the Editor of LIFE.com_ --- George Forss (b. 1941) lives and works in Cambridge, New York. Visit him online at [ForssBlog](http://forssblog.com/) or at his [Ginofor Gallery](http://www.ginoforgallery.com/), and see and buy his work at Brooklyn’s [Park Slope Gallery](http://parkslopegallery.com/). ---  World Financial WTC/Uptown View, 1993; rooftop access from Bowling Green ©George Forss/Park Slope Gallery  Grand Central From 101 Park, 1998 ©George Forss/Park Slope Gallery  Close Encounter/ NY From Journal Square, 1995; New York from Journal Square, Jersey City, New Jersey ©George Forss/Park Slope Gallery  How to Buy a Brooklyn Brownstone, 1993; From Plaza Street ©George Forss/Park Slope Gallery  Towering Over JFK, 1993; from the Air Traffic Control Tower at JFK Airport ©George Forss/Park Slope Gallery  The Towers Stand Alone, 1998; from the Woolworth Building ©George Forss/Park Slope Gallery  The Old Custom House with Fabergé Egg, 1994; from an office on Water Street ©George Forss/Park Slope Gallery  Triple Exposure NYC, 1995; from Journal Square ©George Forss/Park Slope Gallery  Plaza Street Panorama, 1993; from Plaza Street, Brooklyn ©George Forss/Park Slope Gallery  The Chrysler Building From Pfizer, 1995; from the roof of the Pfizer Building ©George Forss/Park Slope Gallery  West 17th Street Looking Downtown/Time Exposure II, 1994; from a terrace on West 17th Street near 8th Avenue ©George Forss/Park Slope Gallery  Slice of Brooklyn With Skyline, 1994; from Turner Towers (on Eastern Parkway, across from the Brooklyn Museum) ©George Forss/Park Slope Gallery  Empire State/Antique Market at 6th Avenue, 1994; from West 26th Street, 9th Floor ©George Forss/Park Slope Gallery  The City Glows, 1995; from One Pierrepont Street (Brooklyn Heights) rooftop ©George Forss/Park Slope Gallery  Scale in NYC, 2000; from the Siegel-Cooper Building rooftop ©George Forss/Park Slope Gallery Unseen New York: Photos of Gotham Before 9/11 Changed Everything ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3879299/unseen-new-york-photos-of-gotham-before-911-changed-everything/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3879299/unseen-new-york-photos-of-gotham-before-911-changed-everything/"},"headline":"Lost City: Portraits of New York Before 9/11 Changed Everything","datePublished":"2014-03-09T18:25:18.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T05:03:45.959Z","description":"George Forss' pre-9/11 photographs of New York City are both a celebration of, and an elegy for, a lost world.","url":"https://time.com/3879299/unseen-new-york-photos-of-gotham-before-911-changed-everything/","keywords":["architecture & design","New York City","9/11","World trade center","Brooklyn","Ben Cosgrove","Liz Ronk"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7c7379b206a299b5/69884b738e06010c8b46000d/140304-george-forss-new-york-14.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Liz Ronk","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/liz-ronk/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7c7379b206a299b5/69884b738e06010c8b46000d/140304-george-forss-new-york-14.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"The City Glows","caption":"The City Glows, 1995; from One Pierrepont Street (Brooklyn Heights) rooftop","creditText":"©George Forss/Park Slope Gallery","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/architecture-design/","name":"architecture & design"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3879299/unseen-new-york-photos-of-gotham-before-911-changed-everything/","name":"Lost City: Portraits of New York Before 9/11 Changed Everything"}}]}] ```