One of the iconic and enduring images of the construction industry is Lunch Atop a Skyscraper from 1932. The photo captured construction workers eating lunch on an I-beam that was 850 feet above ground at the site of 11 Rockefeller Center.

A publicity photo, the staged image conveyed a message of progress during the Great Depression. Ece Erdogmus, the chair of the Georgia Tech School of Building Construction, says it also shows how the construction industry retains century-old qualities.

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