These death-defying vintage photos show workers goofing around in the past. Some of them are just doing their jobs. Their scary, vertigo-inducing jobs.
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| Circa 1933. A workman takes a siesta on a girder during the building of Radio City, the city of New York spread out below. (Photo by General Photographic Agency/Getty Images) |
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| Two waiters serve two steel workers lunch, on a girder high above New York City, 14th November 1930. The building upon which they are perched is the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel on Park Avenue, under construction by Thompson-Starrett. The building in the bottom left is the New York Central Building, later the Helmsley Building. (Photo by Keystone/Getty Images) |
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| 1955. A scaffolder or [spider man] making his way across a steel girder 70 feet above the ground. (Photo by John Murray/Getty Images) |
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| 1964. A stonemason at work on the south face of Canterbury Cathedrals Bell Harry Tower. (Photo by Fox Photos/Getty Images) |
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| 1955. A [spider man] or steel construction worker crosses a steel girder with a foothold of a mere 1.75 inches. (Photo by John Murray/Getty Images) |
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| 20th November 1925. An American construction worker walking blindfolded on a construction girder twenty stories high in New York City. (Photo by Topical Press Agency/Getty Images) |
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| 1937. English comedienne and singer Gracie Fields (Grace Stansfield, 1898–1979) singing to workmen at Londons Prince of Wales Theatre after laying its foundation stone. (Photo by Topical Press Agency/Getty Images) |
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| 1965. Daily Express newspaper photographer Terry Fincher on a parachuting exercise. (Photo by Victor Blackman/Express/Getty Images) |
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| 13th August 1931. A workman renovating the Gothic spires of the cathedral of St Peters in York Minster. (Photo by Fox Photos/Getty Images) |
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| Circa 1930. A construction worker crouches over the end of a girder high above the streets of New York. (Photo by General Photographic Agency/Getty Images) |
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| 13th April 1932. Two workmen walking along a girder during the building of the Freemasons Hospital, Ravenscourt Park, London are silhouetted against the sky. (Photo by Fox Photos/Getty Images) |
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| 3rd October 1933. Two men working on a girder in Blackpool Tower. (Photo by Reg Speller/Fox Photos/Getty Images) |
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| 23rd February 1937. A riveter carrying out repairs to the main girders of the Blackpool Tower in preparation for the coming holiday season. (Photo by George W. Hales/Fox Photos/Getty Images) |
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| August 1935. Workmen painting girders beneath the roof of Liverpool Street Station, London. (Photo by Fox Photos/Getty Images) |
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| 8th March 1937. Workmen on scaffolding at the top of the spire of St Johns church in Cardiff, where they are carrying out repairs. (Photo by Reg Speller/Fox Photos/Getty Images) |
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| Circa 1925. Constructions workers sitting on a hoisting ball above the New York city skyline. The Singer Building is in the background. (Photo by General Photographic Agency/Getty Images) |
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| 17th August 1954. Workmen demolishing the walls of a bomb wrecked building, whilst below them work has started on the foundations for a new office block. (Photo by Topical Press Agency/Getty Images) |
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| Circa 1958. Workmen from the Office of Works perch 70 feet above the ground to clean the horses heads of the quadriga statue on the Wellington Memorial at Londons Hyde Park Corner. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images) |
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| 26th July 1935. New West Towers being finished at Selby Abbey in Yorkshire. (Photo by Fox Photos/Getty Images) |
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| 14th February 1951. Men at work on Battersea Power Station walking along a narrow girder with trains and the gasometer in the background. (Photo by Reg Speller/Fox Photos/Getty Images) |
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| Circa 1931. A steel worker balances on a girder during the construction of the Empire State Building in New York City. The Chrysler Building can be seen in the background. (Photo by Keystone/Getty Images) |
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| Circa 1950. The eleventh most dangerous occupation in America is that of the rivet tosser. Insurance companies will not issue life or accident insurance cover to these people. (Photo by Evans/Three Lions/Getty Images) |
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| Circa 1930. Harmonica playing steel workers perched on a girder on the 22nd storey of the Murray Hill building, New York. (Photo by General Photographic Agency/Getty Images) |
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| 18th April 1934. A steeplejack painting the flagstaff on Australia House, London, with St Clements Dane Church behind him. (Photo by J. A. Hampton/Topical Press Agency/Getty Images) |
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| 30th December 1966. A man does a handstand on a girder high above a street in London. (Photo by Keystone/Getty Images) |