Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XII.djvu/389

 NEW YORK (CITY) 375 timiation 3d avenue ; and on the W. side, Hud- son street and 8th avenue. Fifth avenue con- tains many handsome churches, but is chiefly noted for the magnificence of its residences, to which it is almost exclusively devoted. The most favorite drives outside of Central park are the Boulevard, St. Nicholas avenue, and 6th and 7th avenues above the park. The Boulevard commences at 59th street and 8th avenue, and terminates at 155th street, following for the most part the line of the old Bloomingdale road, the continuation of Broadway, and coinciding above 107th street with llth avenue ; it is 150 ft. wide, and below 128th street is divided in the centre by a series of little parks. St. Nicholas avenue, 100 ft. wide, runs diagonally along the former Harlem lane from the upper side of Central park at 6th avenue and 110th street to 155th street, whence its continuation is the Kingsbridge road. Wall street, less than half a mile long, running from the lower part of Broadway to the East river, is the money centre of the country. It contains the custom house, United States sub-treasury and assay office, and many of the principal banks and banking houses. In Broad street near Wall are the stock exchange and gold room. Many of the buildings in the lower portion of the city and along Broadway below 34th street extend from street to street, or to the centre of the block, covering the entire ground space, from five to seven stories high, besides two sto- ries below the surface, with well lighted vaults reaching nearly to the middle of the street. The most common materials here are granite, marble, and other varieties of stone, with iron in many recent structures. Brick is still much used in the cheaper class of dwellings and workshops. The finest residences are of brown stone, four stories high, 5th and Madison ave- nues and the adjacent streets being lined with stately edifices of this class. The mansion of A. T. Stewart, at the corner of 5th avenue and 34th street, of white marble, three stories high besides basement and Mansard roof, and con- taining a fine gallery of paintings, is the most splendid residence in the city. Many of the banks, insurance buildings, and other business structures are of palatial size and magnificence. The Drexel building, on the corner of Wall and Broad streets, is seven stories high, built of white marble in the renaissance style. The Bennett building, in Nassau street between Fulton and Ann, is of iron and seven stories high. The publishing house of Harper and brothers is a prominent structure with an iron front in Pearl street. In Broadway, on the corner of Cedar street, is the building of the Equitable life insurance company, having a frontage of 87 ft., a depth of 200, and a height of 137. f Above this, on the corner of Liberty street, is the six-story building of the mutual life insurance company, surmounted by a tower containing a clock ; and on the corner of Ful- ton street, the new "Evening Post" building. Further up and adjoining each other, between Fulton and Ann streets, are the Park bank and the " Herald " building, both of marble. On the other side of Broadway, at the corner of Dey street, is the new building of the Western Union telegraph company, ten stories high (in- cluding three in the roof), with a clock tower ; the two lower stories are of granite, the others of brick trimmed with granite. The height of the main wall is 140 ft. from the ground, and of the platform at the top of the tower 230 ft. In Printing House square, E. of the City Hall park, the "Times" and "World" buildings (occupying the former site of the Brick church), the, new granite building of the Staats-Zei- tung, with statues of Gutenberg and Frank- lin above the portal, and the new " Tribune " building (corner of Spruce street), of brick and granite, nine stories high with a lofty tower, are particularly noticeable. The New York life insurance company's building, on the cor- ner of Broadway and Leonard street, is of white marble in the Ionic style ; and opposite is the magnificent building of the Globe mutual life insurance company. A little above this is the Ninth national bank, also a superb struc- ture. The retail store of A. T. Stewart and co. is of iron, five stories high, and occupies the entire block between 9tb and 10th streets and Broadway and 4th avenue. The Methodist pub- lishing and mission building, on the corner of Broadway and llth street, is also of iron, five stories high with a spacious basement. On the corner of Broadway and 14th street is the six- story iron building of the Domestic sewing ma- chine company, and on the corner of Broadway and 20th street Lord and Taylor's store, which has a frontage of 110 ft, a depth of 128, and a height of 122. There are many other busi- ness structures scarcely less worthy of mention. Among the public buildings is the city hall, in the park, 216 by 105 ft., and three stories high; it is a handsome edifice of the Italian style. The front and ends are of white marble, and the rear of brown stone. It was erected from 1803 to 1812, at a cost of more than $500,000, and is occupied by the mayor, com- mon council, and other public officers. The "governor's room" in the second story con- tains the writing desk on which Washington penned his first message to congress, the chairs used by the first congress, the chair in which Washington was inaugurated first president, and a gallery of paintings embracing portraits of the mayors of the city, state governors, and leading federal officers and revolutionary chieftains, mostly by eminent artists. It has also a very fine portrait of Columbus. The building is surmounted by a cupola contain- ing a four-dial clock, which is illuminated at night by gas. In the rear of the city hall and fronting on Chambers street is the new court house, which was commenced in 1861, and has been occupied since 1867, but is not completed. It is of Corinthian architecture, three stories high, 250 ft. long by 150 ft. wide, and the crown of the dome is to be 210 ft.