This video shows the last known strap hanging window washer in New York. Charlie, on the eleventh floor of Manhattan’s Chanin Building, opens a metal clamp attached to a leather strap around his waist and swings out, pinning it to one corner of the window frame.
After attaching the second clamp, he gets to work suspended high above 42nd street.
According to YouTuber Giselle Benatar, he cleans all the windows of the Chanin Building which is sixty stories high.
The Chanin building still has windows that open by sliding up and down, in other buildings, these have been replaced with new windows that flip in and out meaning you can wash them from the inside.
Benatar says, “most buildings no longer need window washers with Charlie’s formidable free-form suspension skills.”
The union says he’s the last strap hanging window washer in the city.
