Wall Street, New York City

It is the most impressive building in Wall Street, with columns recreating Greek architecture. Its staircase functions almost as a balcony over the place, with tourists disputing the angles to take their photos and resting a little, with the security strong apparatus "telling" that there must be some safer places in town and inviting to move on.

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In the marvelous town, where each building is more beautiful, than the previous one, Wall street, is mainly the feeling of being in the world's financial center. But in my last visit, the dominating show was more the security apparatus than the site itself. It's a pity, what the world is becoming.

Anyway, I had the pleasure of seeing my Portuguese bank in a privileged location.

I've been there once more, the nervous apparatus continues, but I couldn't locate my bank. Moved or confusion, I don't know.

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center of the boom and bust cycle, the bull and the bear and the greedy companies that made the 2008 financial crisis possible!!!! It is the first permanent home of the New York Stock Exchange, the world's largest stock exchange by market capitalization of its listed companies. Over time, Wall Street became the name of the surrounding geographic neighborhood and also shorthand (or a metonym) for the "influential financial interests" of the American financial industry, which is centered in the New York City area. Anchored by Wall Street, New York City vies with the City of London to be the financial capital of the world.

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One thing I wanted to do on this second trip to New York City was to walk around the Wall Street area, preferably on a week day to see one of the world’s biggest financial districts in action. We left our hotel early on a Friday morning and got to the corner of Broad St. and Wall St. just in time to see thousands of people on their way to work, many wearing a business suit with running shoes, a coffee in one hand and a cell phone in the other. It sure was an interesting experience! We walked around the area for a while and managed to locate some of its most significant buildings, including the New York Stock Exchange, housed in a beautiful neoclassical building, the humongous Federal Reserve Bank, Federal Hall (where George Washington's inauguration as the first President of the United States occurred in 1789), and of course we made the quick detour by Bowling Green to take a picture of the "Charging Bull" sculpture by Arturo Di Modica (and no, we did not molest it as so many people seem to have done judging by how shiny some of the bull's "parts" are!!!).

Another thing I found quite fascinating about NYC's financial district was to see how some historic buildings have managed to survive in the middle of all the modern skyscrapers. Fraunces Tavern, dating back to 1719, is perhaps the best-known example of 18th century architecture in the financial district but there are other examples, such as the shrine dedicated to Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton, the first American-born saint, which includes a building dating back to 1793 that was once a Christian mission for female Irish immigrants.

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Completed in 1853, this Renaissance-style mansion was built as the headquarters of Hanover Bank (the building's address is One Hanover Street). By 1870, it housed the New York Cotton Exchange, and in 1925, it became the seat of the distinguished club, India House, which continues to occupy the premises. Right next to it is the small pedestrianised, cobblestoned Stone Street. It runs through one of the few blocks in downtown Manhattan to have entirely preserved old NYC architecture. It is made up of late 19th/early 20th century red-brick townhouses. The charm of the street lies not only in its architecture, but also in that it is entirely used as an outdoor seating space by the numerous restaurants on it. If you happen to be visiting Lower Manhattan on a nice day, then Stone Street is the perfect place to have lunch. Hanover and Stone Streets lie a very short distance from Wall Street.

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Completed in 1931, this Art Déco building was originally intended to be the world's highest building. Unfortunately, the great depression began before its completion which led the developers to scale back to a height of 226 metres. The building is now known by its address, 20 Exchange Place (which is off Wall Street), but it was first called "City Bank Farmers Trust Building," after its first occupant, the company which eventually became Citibank.

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Resembling an Ancient Greek temple, Federal Hall was built between 1836 - 1842, originally as the US Customs House. The structure lies on the site of the old City Hall, which dated from 1700 and had served as the US Capitol Building when NYC was briefly the capital of the US immediately after Independence. In front of the Neoclassical façade is a statue of George Washington, erected on the spot where he took his oath of office in 1789. Nowadays, this historic site is dwarfed by the soaring skyscrapers of Wall Street all around.

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The world's largest stock exchange, the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), is one of many reasons why New York City is the world's most important financial centre. The building that houses NYSE is located at 11 Wall Street, but the actual trading floor, frequently seen on TV, is located behind the Neoclassical façade at 18 Broad Street (seen in the attached photos). Although NYSE traces its roots back to the year 1792, it moved around a bit until the construction of the existing building in 1903. It was designed by the architect George Post and only became a National Historic Landmark in 1978. In the past, visitors could tour the NYSE, but due to recent security concerns, tours have been suspended indefinitely. I was fortunate enough to go on a tour of the exchange in 1995!