This vintage gelatin-silver print stands as one of Berenice Abbott's most significant documentary photographs, bearing her original "56 W. 53rd St." studio stamp and verso labels from both the Gamma Picture Agency and the Joanna Steichen collection, which ensure its impeccable provenance and historical value.

Created just months before Abbott launched her WPA-supported "Changing New York" survey, this image foreshadows the observational style that defines her celebrated series, marking a pivotal transition in her documentary practice.

The photograph is a crucial record of New York's vanishing transit infrastructure; Abbott captured Fifth Avenue’s iconic double-decker buses at their operational height, just before they disappeared in the early 1940s and single-deck buses and the IND subway reshaped city transit. The technical quality of this early 1930s print—made directly in Abbott’s darkroom—attests to the richness and detail that characterize her most distinctive work.