Horse-drawn wagons share cobblestones with fashionably dressed pedestrians and a mounted police officer on a brilliantly tinted early view of Fifth Avenue, New York City — looking south toward the twin spires of a church in the middle distance, with the round-topped tower of what appears to be the old University Building or similar Romanesque structure commanding the right foreground. Published in 1905 by The Rotograph Co. of New York (printed in Germany), this card captures the avenue at the height of its Gilded Age grandeur, years before the automobile would transform the street entirely. The sender, Carrie, writes enthusiastically across the image itself: "this morning. Ellie is having a fine time… Will be jealous where she hears of B—— [?]. Has a good country place for me. Regards to all, Sincerely, Carrie." The card was mailed from New York on August 16 [c.1905] to a Mr. Ed. von Sothen at Pine Bush, Orange County, N.Y. (Box 136), carried by a 1-cent Franklin/Ben stamp.