Crossbeam Daredevils

Construction workers, with obvious nerves of steel, play harmonicas during a lunch break on a crossbeam on the 22nd story of the Murray Hill Building in New York City. The building would rise to 27 stories at Madison Avenue and the northeast corner of 40th Street.

This 1925 photo is among the earliest images of construction workers defying gravity and having fun with intrepid photographers hundreds of feet above the ground. Over the years, photos would be taken of ironworkers eating lunch, throwing a football, playing golf and pretending to sleep on crossbeams.