Yesterday the NYPL announced that they expanded and improved upon their digital database by adding high-res photos, more materials, and some cool features to get lost in, some of which will break your very heart. And the most heartbreaking time-suck of them all is this then & now feature that juxtaposes a 1911 wide angle photo with a Google Street View image, almost all the way up and down 5th Avenue. Oh, 574 5th Avenue, what has become of you!

The city will always change, even the iconic 5th Avenue, and it's far from shocking to see changes over a decades time, nevermind over a century... but why do we replace everything beautiful with trash buildings? Just look at what became of the Brokaw Mansion (which was on 79th and 5th). Anyway, click through and weep.

On the other hand, we did get the Guggenheim and some other nice things.

And now a few facts about 5th Avenue you may or may not know: