Lunchtime on a skyscraper in 2011: Flat caps swapped for hard hats and safety harnesses as builders recreate famous 1930s image

By Rob Cooper
Updated: 11:50 EDT, 11 October 2011

The famous original photo showed 11 workers in flat caps precariously perched on a steel beam 800ft (240m) above the ground.

But in 2011, these construction engineers in London swapped vests for high-visibility jackets and safety harnesses as they ate out on a 755ft (230m) tall building.

The photo - modelled on Charles C Ebbets's famous 1932 original, Lunch atop a Skyscraper - was taken by Michael Crompton, 61, as he worked on Heron Tower in central London last year. The 46-floor building is the third tallest in the capital.

Safety harnesses and high-visibility jackets: Eleven workmen 'eat out' as they recreate the famous Lunch atop a Skyscraper photo taken by Charles C Ebbets in 1932

Mr Crompton said that the 11 workmen had tried to create a modern version of the famous image.

'We changed it slightly — one of the workers had a can of cider in our shot, while in the original they had a bottle of whisky. And underneath our coats we all have harnesses and lanyards,' he told The Sun.

'But it was almost minus 10C out there on the 46th floor and a few of the lads were telling me to hurry up.'

The original was taken in New York on the 69th floor of the RCA Building as it neared completion.

The group in London, who did not get permission from management, wore safety harnesses when the picture was taken.

Original: Eleven workmen in New York sit and eat lunch on this beam in 1932. One of the workmen, far right, is holding a bottle of whisky