30. New York Stock Exchange
Location: 11 Wall Street
Built: 1901-1903
Architects: George B. Post; J.Q.A. Ward and Paul Bartlett (pediment); Trowbridge & Livingston (1923 addition)
National Register Number: 78001877
Listed: June 2, 1978
Visited: September 28 and October 15, 2007
The first and fourth (and presumably the second and third) edition of the AIA Guide to New York City calls this one of "one of the few great architectural spaces open to the public in this city." The fifth won't. Because...well, you know. The terrorists. They ruin everything, don't they? (A warning: there are oceans of ambivalence behind my flipness.) The NYSE offered tours to mere civilians up until 9/11, but now, if you do a search for the word "tour" on the NYSE Euronext site, the first thing that comes up isn't a search result, but a note: "The NYSE is not open for visits or tours." (Obviously a few people are royally sick of being asked certain questions.) The largest stock exchange in the whole effing world, a linchpin of all civilization whether we like it or not, it is too important to be public, perhaps. So it is protected through extraordinary means for the city. The streets surrounding the NYSE are blocked off from traffic, either with checkpoints, retractable barriers, or huge quartz-shaped boulders suitable for sitting on.
And yet, after 9/11, even as the area around the NYSE became a paranoid fortress, it also became more of a tourist destination than it ever was. Largely free of cars, crowds of people mill around on the streets, taking pictures of each other. Even with the guys carrying the machine guns who stand in front of the J.P. Morgan building, it is a cautiously festive place, at least during work hours. There are even little café tables and chairs in the middle of Broad Street where people can sit in front of the NYSE main entrance and wonder what kind of tumult is going on behind its oversized Corinthian columns and overwrought American flag.
Built: 1901-1903
Architects: George B. Post; J.Q.A. Ward and Paul Bartlett (pediment); Trowbridge & Livingston (1923 addition)
National Register Number: 78001877
Listed: June 2, 1978
Visited: September 28 and October 15, 2007
The first and fourth (and presumably the second and third) edition of the AIA Guide to New York City calls this one of "one of the few great architectural spaces open to the public in this city." The fifth won't. Because...well, you know. The terrorists. They ruin everything, don't they? (A warning: there are oceans of ambivalence behind my flipness.) The NYSE offered tours to mere civilians up until 9/11, but now, if you do a search for the word "tour" on the NYSE Euronext site, the first thing that comes up isn't a search result, but a note: "The NYSE is not open for visits or tours." (Obviously a few people are royally sick of being asked certain questions.) The largest stock exchange in the whole effing world, a linchpin of all civilization whether we like it or not, it is too important to be public, perhaps. So it is protected through extraordinary means for the city. The streets surrounding the NYSE are blocked off from traffic, either with checkpoints, retractable barriers, or huge quartz-shaped boulders suitable for sitting on.
And yet, after 9/11, even as the area around the NYSE became a paranoid fortress, it also became more of a tourist destination than it ever was. Largely free of cars, crowds of people mill around on the streets, taking pictures of each other. Even with the guys carrying the machine guns who stand in front of the J.P. Morgan building, it is a cautiously festive place, at least during work hours. There are even little café tables and chairs in the middle of Broad Street where people can sit in front of the NYSE main entrance and wonder what kind of tumult is going on behind its oversized Corinthian columns and overwrought American flag.
Labels: Financial District, George B. Post, J.Q.A. Ward, Paul Bartlett, Trowbridge and Livingston
posted by Michael at
11:21 PM
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