Wall Street: A New York Songline (original) (raw)

North:

Federal Hall

Federal Hall National Memorial by StarrGazr, on Flickr

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 Washingtonby John Quincy Adams Ward. George Washington Statue at Federal Hall, Wall Street, New York by Joseph Hoetzl, on Flickr

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 Wall Street by C R, on Flickr

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.