A towering symbol of Gilded Age ambition rises from Lower Manhattan in this richly hand-colored pre-linen postcard — the Whitehall Building, its ornate Beaux-Arts crown and rusticated limestone base captured in meticulous detail against a cloud-dotted sky, horse-drawn carriages dotting the street below. Completed in 1904 at 17 Battery Place, the 20-story Whitehall Building was among New York's most prestigious office addresses, overlooking Battery Park and New York Harbor. This card traveled from New York City on October 18, 1907, mailed to Sophia in McConnellsburg, Pennsylvania. The sender — writing in a neat cursive hand — reports going to see someone named George at 4:00 that evening, only to find he had already left the office, a perfectly ordinary disappointment immortalized across 117 years.