New York Songlines: Wall Street

South:

Bank of New York

1 (block): 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.

3: Washington Irving had a law office at this address in 1808, though there is no record that he ever had a client.

7: Charles Merrill and Edmund Lynch's partnership had its first offices here, starting in 1915.

S <===         NEW ST

New York Stock Exchange

Block (18 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 AZT.

15: Charles Dow and Edward Jones started Dow Jones & Co. in a basement office at this address in 1883, distributing hand-written news bulletins reproduced with carbon paper.

W
A
L
L

S
T
R
E
E
T

North:

2 (corner): Banco Portugues do Atlantico. Diarist George Templeton Strong referred to a building torn down here in 1851 as ''an old landmark.''

6: The Continental Insurance Co. was founded in the basement of this address in 1853.

10: James Gordon Bennett founded the New York Herald in a cellar at this address in 1835. The sensationalist, racist and antisemitic paper introduced such features as the gossip column and Wall Street stock tables. Later merged with the New York Tribune; the International Herald-Tribune is the surviving relic.

14: 14 Wall Street, a restaurant on the 31st floor here, was J.P. Morgan's penthouse; now known for power breakfasts. The New York Clearinghouse opened here in 1853, a non-profit institution that helps banks reconcile checks. The Literary Map of Manhattan suggests that this address was the setting of Melville's Bartleby the Scrivener.

16 (corner): The Banker's Trust Company Building, completed in 1912, has a stepped-pyramid roof that served as the bank's logo. At this corner was Simmon's Tavern, where New York's first mayor, James Duane, was sworn in on February 7, 1784, after being appointed by Gov. De Witt Clinton.

South:

The fire that started on December 15, 1835-- in some respects the worst fire in New York history-- destroyed nearly the entire city to the south and east of this corner.

Morgan Bank

23 (corner): Built in 1913, the year J.P. Morgan died. One can still see the damage to the marble facade from a dynamite bombing on September 16, 1920 that killed 33 people here. Though the perpetrators were never identified, an anarchist had tried to murder J.P. Morgan Jr. earlier in the year, so militants of that stripe are generally blamed. An earlier Morgan building on the site was one of the first to use electricity, installed in 1882 by Thomas Edison for the office of the elder Morgan--one of Edison's main financial backers.

At this corner was Downing's Oyster House, a popular restaurant with financiers, politicians and journalists in pre-Civil War days. (Charles Dickens ate here on his visit to New York.) The African-American owner, Thomas Downing, helped slaves escape to freedom as part of the Underground Railroad. He may or may not be the namesake of Downing Street in Greenwich Village.

27: The United States Life Insurance Co. was founded here in 1851.

37: This Beaux Arts structure, designed by Francis H. Kimball, originally housed the Trust Company of America; its 25 stories made it one of the tallest buildings in the city when it went up in 1907, replacing the United States Bank Building at No. 41-43 and the Metropolitan Trust Company at No. 37-39. Over the years the luxurious two-story banking room on the ground floor was occupied by Equitable Trust, Company Interstate Trust, Public National Bank and Trust, Bank of Nova Scotia, Morgan Guarantee and most recently Chase. It's now a branch of Tiffany's, with the floors above converted to residences. The marble cherubs on the facade are somewhat the worse for acid rain.

45 (corner): Atlantic United States Trust was founded here in 1853. As the Atlantic Mutual Insurance Company and U.S. Trust, it built this 28-story office building in 1959. Converted to residences in 1996 by Meltzer/Mendl.

W
A
L
L

S
T
R
E
E
T

North:

Federal Hall

28 (corner): The site of New York's second city hall, built in 1703. Probably the most historic location in New York City, and one of the most important in the U.S., this was where George Washington was sworn in as our first president on April 30, 1789, an event marked with an 1883 statue of Washington by John Quincy Adams Ward.

This was also where the Bill of Rights was adopted on September 25, 1789; where the Continental Congress approved the Northwest Ordinance in 1787; where the Stamp Act Congress met to protest ''taxation without representation'' in 1765; and where the trial of New York Weekly Journal editor John Peter Zenger established the principle that the truth cannot be libelous.

The building had been remodeled by Pierre L'Enfant in 1788, but the national capital was moved to Philadelphia in 1790, and the historic structure was demolished in 1812. The current building was built in 1842 as the U.S. Customs House, and became the U.S. Sub-Treasury in 1862, storing the gold and silver that moved in 1920 to the Federal Reserve Bank.

The manhole cover between Federal Hall and 30 Wall Street is part of an art project called Re-Covering the Cityscape by Michele Brody, which commemorates historic architecture--in this case, the Assay Office.

Seaman's Bank

30: From 1823 to 1915, this was the site of the U.S. Assay Office, whose facade is now in the Met as a classic example of Federal architecture. The current building was built as a three-story federal gold storage facility in 1919, and expanded to 12 stories in 1955 by the Seaman's Bank for Savings.

40 Wall Street

40: Formerly the Manhattan Bank Building, this was designed to be the tallest building in the world, but was beaten out by the Chrysler Building's surprise spire. On May 20, 1946 it was struck by an Air Force plane, killing all five crew members but causing no fatalities inside.

The Bank of the Manhattan Company, which eventually became Chase Manhattan, opened its first office here in September 1799. It was founded by Aaron Burr against the opposition of Alexander Hamilton. The New York Stock & Exchange Board, as the NYSE was then called, had its first permanent office here in 1817. The United States Life Insurance Co. moved its operations here in 1852.

Donald Trump calls this the Trump Building; please don't encourage him.

44 (corner): A 24-story 1927 building by Trowbridge & Livingston houses the offices of Metro, the daily free newspaper owned by racist jerks from Sweden.

South:

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 after the 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).

S <===         HANOVER ST

59-61: Brown Brothers & Co. bought a banking house here in 1843.

The Crest

63 (corner): The 1929 neoclassic headquarters of investment bankers Brown Brothers Harriman, designed by Aldridge & Dietrich, this 36-story building was converted into a fancy apartment building in 2004. The coins on the facade are ancient Greek drachmas.

Munson Building

67 (corner): This 25-story triangular building, originally known as the Munson Building, was designed in 1906 by Kenneth M. Murchison for the Munson Steamship Company. From 1931 until 1972 it was the New York Cocoa Exchange. Converted to a co-op in 2003.

W
A
L
L

S
T
R
E
E
T

North:

Bank Of New York Building

48 (corner): A 1928 building designed by Benjamin Wistar Morris, crowned with a Corinthian temple and a bronze eagle (invisible from Wall Street). The "magnificent" central banking room is a "special and serene space" (AIA Guide). Converted to condos in 1999; the banking floor is now the Museum of American Finance, an affiliate of the Smithsonian.

52: This was where the City Bank of New York (now Citibank) was founded in 1812. On March 20, 1831, it was the scene of the country's first bank robbery, when Edward Smith burgled more than $200,000. A week later, he was on his way to Sing Sing.

56: The pirate Captain (William) Kidd bought property here in 1691 for $35 and sold it a year later for a 14 percent profit. Now that's piracy!

58: Alexander Hamilton lived and practiced law here from 1783 to 1790. In 1835 this was the address of Brown Brothers (later Brown Brothers Harriman).

60 Wall Street

60: This 1988 building by Kevin Roche John Dinkeloo has 52 stories and 1.7 million square feet of space. Designed to be a modernist interpretation of the Greek revival forms of No. 55 across the street. It replaced a 26-story building by Clinton & Russell that went up in 1905. Originally the Morgan Bank Headquarters, it's now the U.S. offices of Deutsche Bank, which the band Kraftwerk puts in the same category with the FBI, Interpol and Scotland Yard.

68: The New York Stock Exchange got its start in 1792, when people began trading shares of stocks under a buttonwood tree (better known as a sycamore) near this address. The tree stood long after trading moved indoors, finally toppling in 1865, the year the Exchange moved to its present location.

70 (corner): Starting in 1792, this address (then the corner) was the Tontine Coffee House, where the Stock Exchange went after it moved indoors from under the buttonwood tree.

72-74 (corner): The address of Edward Livingston, a U.S. representative (1795-1801) and New York mayor (1801-03); he was a top aide to Andrew Jackson at the Battle of New Orleans, later serving as Jackson's secretary of State.

74 (corner): This round-arched building was put up in 1926 as the Seamen's Bank for Savings Headquarters (hence the seahorses, mermaids and other nautical motifs); the architect was Benjamin Wistar Morris, who designed both ends of this block. The AIA Guide calls it a "friendly, romantic addition."

South:

75 (block): The Barclays Bank Building was built in 1987, designed by Welton Becket Assocs. for the British banking house that was founded in 1690. The company sold the building to JP Morgan in 2005, which in turn sold it to condo developers. There's a little public plaza here with a waterfall.

W
A
L
L

S
T

North:

80 (corner): Tontine House, a 13-story building by Clinton & Russell whose name commemorates the historic coffee house--see below:

82 (corner): Building with Downtown Pharmacy is on the original site of the Merchant's Coffee House. In 1793 the Tontine Coffee House opened here, which became the first indoor meetingplace of the New York Stock Exchange.

South:

95 (corner): This was the second site of the Merchant's Coffee House, where on May 17, 1774, Paul Revere carried a message from the Boston Committee of Correspondents, asking New York patriots to protest the closing of Boston Harbor. On February 24, 1784, the Bank of New York was founded with a meeting here, making it the country's first commercial bank.

W
A
L
L

S
T

North:

100 (block): A 29-story Emery Roth building put up in 1969.

South:

111 (block): Citibank

W
A
L
L

S
T
R
E
E
T

North:

110 (corner): Unisys is in a 28-story Emery Roth building put up in 1965.

120 (corner): A 1930 building by Eli Jacques Kahn's firm. The Urban League has its offices here, as did WBAI, New York's listener-supported progressive radio station, until 2013. This was also the building owned by the title character in How to Marry a Millionaire.

Manahatta Park

Corner: In front of 120 Wall is a small park, created by Mayor Bloomberg in 2004 when he noticed that the east end of Wall Street was much wider than it had to be. It's named for the Lenape name for Manhattan. The fountain here, a green glass bowl that resembles a giant martini glass, is actually a September 11 memorial donated by Deutsche Bank.