New York Songlines: Exchange Place

South:

Block (55 Broadway): Known as 1 Exchange Plaza, this was built on the site of the orchard of Hendrick Van Dyck--his murder of a Native American woman picking peaches here sparked the last major Indian attack on Manhattan, September 15, 1655, in which 50 settlers were killed. Later, as No. 57, it was the architectural offices of McKim, Mead and White, 1879-94.

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Block (61 Broadway): The Adams Building, built in 1914, is featured in Berenice Abbott's photo Canyon. The most prominent boardinghouse of the 1830s, that of ''Aunt'' Margaret Mann, was at this address.

South:

Corner (52 Broadway): Chemical Bank. Replaced Exchange Court, a 12-story building from 1898.

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Bank of New York

Block (1 Wall St):

This landmark was put up in 1929-32 for the Irving Trust Co., a company formed in 1851 and named for author Washington Irving simply because his was a prestigious name at the time. (Coincidentally, the building occupies the lot where Irving had his law office at 3 Wall Street.) Ralph Walker's blueprint is considered a masterpiece of Art Deco skyscraper design; the lobby in particular is praised.

The Bank of New York acquired Irving Trust in 1988, and moved its headquarters here by 1998. BONY, New York's oldest bank, was founded in 1784 under the guidance of Alexander Hamilton, who was soon arranging loans from the bank to the new U.S. government as Washington's treasury secretary. The Bank's was the first corporate stock to be traded on the New York Stock Exchange in 1792. It helped finance the Erie Canal and the New York subway system. It merged with New York Life in 1922.

This building served as the Manhattan City Bank in Ghostbusters, which gave the heroes a loan to set up their paranormal small business.

At the southern end of this block was the North American Building (1907).

South:

Block (30 Broad): A 48-story Art Deco building completed in 1932.

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New York Stock Exchange

Block (8 Broad Street): The largest stock exchange in the world, the NYSE was founded on Wall Street in 1792 under a buttonwood tree; the exchange moved indoors in 1817 but did not prohibit trading in the street until 1836. It moved here in 1903, into a neoclassical landmark designed by George B. Post. The pediment, designed by J.Q.A. Ward, depicts Integrity surrounded by Agriculture, Mining, Science, Industry and Invention; the 90-ton sculpture had to be replaced in 1936 with a lighter hollow-lead version.

Abbie Hoffman threw dollar bills on the trading floor in 1967 to proclaim the Death of Money. More succesfully, ACT-UP in 1989 urged traders to "Sell Welcome!" in order to force the drug company to lower the cost of the drug AZT.

Corner (26 Broad): New York's first Latin school opened here in 1659, with Lithuanian-born Alexander Carolus Curtius as headmaster. Criticized for not disciplining his students well, he returned to Europe in 1661.

South:

Corner (25 (corner): Built in 1899-1900 as the headquarters of the City Investing Company (Robert Maynicke, architect; revised by Clinton & Russell). Once the largest office building in the world, this building "worthy of the best on Park Avenue" (AIA Guide) was converted to condos in 1998 and is now known as The Exchange.

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15 (corner): From 1888 until 1892, between his two separated terms of office, President Grover Cleveland worked here at the law firm of Bangs, Stetson, Tracy and MacVeagh.

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20 (block): Also known as 22 William Street or 69 Beaver Street, 57-story limestone tower went up in 1931, designed by Cross & Cross. Originally the City Bank Farmers' Trust Company, it later became the First National City Trust Company before being bought by the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce.

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Cipriani Wall Street

55 (block): This structure began as the Merchants' Exchange, a three-story Ionic temple built on the site of the original Merchants' Exchange (completed in 1827) after the Great Fire of 1835 (Isaiah Rogers, architect). It was converted (by William A. Potter) into the U.S. Custom House in 1863, a role it served until 1899. McKim Mead & White doubled the height of the building in 1907, turning it into the headquarters of the First National City Bank (now Citibank). From 1998 until 2003 it was the Regent Wall Street Hotel-- a luxury facility shuttered by the post-September 11 slowdown. It's now part of the Cipriani empire, with deluxe residences above a restaurant set in a space--the former banking hall--described as "a facility unequaled in America" (AIA Guide).