A Look at Manhattan Land Book 1934 - East 42nd Street

Source:  Manhattan Land Book, City of New York, 1934, Plate 68.  G. M. Bromley & Co.

Serveral months ago, a reader brought to my attention about an incline just east of Second Avenue in Manhattan on East 42nd Street.  In what appears on the 1924 aerial is an incline that seems to be missing trolley tracks for the 42nd Street Trolley.  I went to the Municipal Archive on Chambers Street and I looked at the 1921 and 1934 editions of the "Manhattan Land Book", City of New York by G. M Bromley and Company.  The 1934 map is shown here but for our topic of interest, the layout of 42nd Street on the 1921 map is the same.  The 1934 map differs from the 1921 map in terms of building footprints.  Both maps show a "wall"  (two times) just east of the Second Avenue Elevated station.  There seems to be a marking on the map, two black rectangles just west of First Avenue and the 'hourglass figure" which appears to be the entrance.  No where on the map does the word "tunnel" or "underpass" appear and the trolley tracks in the area are not indicated.  According to my earlier 42nd Street trolley maps, the tunnel is not indicated by B. Linder as well.  The aerial map from 1924 does not show where the east end of it is, but perhaps the 1934 Manhattan Land Book shows that it may be west of First Avenue.   The trolley track mystery is not answered.
 Thanks to "threestationsquare" for bringing this to my attention originally.