1848 relic photo of Manhattan farmhouse goes to auction

New Yorks bustling Broadway? Try muddy cart road. A rare photo dating from 1848 goes on auction at Sothebys on Monday showing a Manhattan no New Yorker would recognise. Instead of apartment towers, neon signs and seas of yellow cabs, the road that became Broadway is an unpaved track, while the sole dwelling is a stately farmhouse surrounded by grass and tall trees.
The half-plate daguerreotype titled "A Country Home Along A Continuation of Broadway" is estimated to sell at between 50,000 and 70,000 dollars, Sothebys said. The photo is believed to be the oldest surviving of uptown Manhattan. At the time, nearly all business remained in the southern tip, but the island was on the cusp of an immigrant-fuelled boom.