Mary Reid

Almost every view of New York is somehow iconic.

But this shot sums up all those classic movies set in the city. They always seemed to end with the hero chasing the villian down the steps, leaping from one floor to the next.

The distinctive fire escapes were installed as an afterthought, after some disastrous fires trapped people in the newly erected tall buildings in the 1800s. For the same reason, every building over six storeys high, which is just about every single building in New York, has to have a water tower on the roof ready to supply the fire hydrants at street level. 

When skyscrapers were built later these two requirements were incorporated into their designs, but they are still visible on older buildings.