Financial District, Broad Street at Wall Street

Mary Sargent © 2008 ……….. click to enlarge

I had originally planned to come back to Wall Street and turn south on New Street, go around and back up William to the subway stop, but at New Street, I was stopped by a friendly but adamant guard. I told him I had a project to complete, but he wasn't impressed. You can walk around it, he said. Apparently we need to prevent evildoers from carrying bombs in there, but I couldn't find out what made New Street so special.

Don't worry, they haven't heard the last of this.

But for now, I just went back the way I came and since it was starting to get dark, this shot I took of the New York Stock Exchange was more dramatic than the ones I took earlier. I don't know about this flag. How long it's been here, whether it was put here after 9/11. I do know that this lighted version is relatively new because I saw a photo dated July 2007 which had a cloth flag stretched over all the columns.

And now we're at the end of this long string of vertical photos. Tomorrow begins a new walk with horizontal colorful photographs.


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Financial District, Rector Street at Trinity Place

Mary Sargent © 2008 ………. click to enlarge


Shot from Rector Street, these buildings are north of Trinity Church. The old and the new – nice foils for each other.

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Financial District, Rector Street At Trinity Place

Mary Sargent © 2008 …….. click to enlarge

This is to the side and behind the Trinity Church spire.

Trinity Church was built in 1846 and is the third church to stand at this site. The first was destroyed in a fire in 1776 while the British held New York; the second was torn down in 1839 after being weakened by severe snow storms. NYC-Architecture.com has a nice gallery of old images of the current church. I particularly like the one that shows it as the tallest building around.

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Financial District, Broadway at Wall Street

Mary Sargent © 2008 …….. click to enlarge




Mary Sargent © 2008 …….. click to enlarge

Sorry to be so late tonight; I saw Die Walkure at the Met with cousin Henry and that's a long opera, Not this long, of course, but afterwards one must stop for a drink to discuss the finer points and then on the way home one must stop at Westside, the market that never closes, bless you, Westside, and then I got home at 2. Now it's 3:30. I had to, you know, check the mail and the email, feed the cats, have some cheese and crackers and attend to various other pressing matters.

So now here are two interior shots of Trinity Church. Although I'm not religious, I do love churches for their beauty and their hushed stillness.

Note: so far, the comments to last night's post more or less bolster my opinion. Other opinions are encouraged.

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Financial District, Broadway at Wall Street

Mary Sargent © 2007 …………………………………….. click to enlarge

This sculpture is in the churchyard of Trinity Church and is a copy of the roots of a tree that was uprooted in the 9/11 attack.

The story briefly: A giant sycamore tree grew in the churchyard at St. Paul's Chapel at Broadway and Fulton Street. When it was uprooted, it fell in such a way that it protected the Chapel and the graveyard. Sculptor Steve Tobin made this to symbolize "our connectedness and our strength after the tragic events of September 11." For more details, go here.

All well and good say I, but do you get that from looking at this? It isn't enough to have a lovely concept; the sculpture also has to enbody the concept in some visual way – it has to look like it. I don't even get the idea of roots because trees don't stand on their roots. Roots are not legs. To me it looks like a giant monster spider and I do not get comfort from it.

Please tell me what you think in a comment. If everyone thinks I'm a philistine without a spirtual elbow to lean on, I'll take another look and try to better myself. I've already been thinking of taking up meditation.


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Financial District, Wall Street Looking East From Broad Street

Mary Sargent © 2007 …….. click to enlarge

On the Fourth of July last year, I took a similar shot looking down at Trinity Church, but it had a different look.

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Financial District, Wall Street Between William and Broad Streets

Mary Sargent © 2007.........click to enlarge


Here's Tiffany & Co., right here on Wall Street. When I saw it, I assumed that it had been here forever and I just didn't know, but it turns out they opened here in October 2007, not so long ago. Don't worry, all you Upper East Side jewelry addicts; the Fifth Avenue store is still there.

However, the company did start out here, just around the corner on Broadway, in 1837. Read all about their new building and what they did to it in this New York Times article. As often happens, when I came home and read about where I was, I wish I'd gone inside. Well, it's because I didn't know. I just thought it was boring old Tiffany's and all the beauty was on the outside.

Mary Sargent © 2007.........click to enlarge

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Financial District, Wall Street Between William and Broad Streets

Mary Sargent © 2007 …………………………………….. click to enlarge

Today I had the luxury of being able to choose anywhere in Manhattan for a photowalk since there was no place else I had to go. I had various considerations in mind, like where have I not been for a while (or ever), spots on my map I want to tidy up, adding a new street to the labels column (what everyone else on the web calls tags), bare spots on the map I want to make a mark in. What I finally decided was to go as far as I could. So I took the 3 train down to Wall Street, not forgetting a thick book.

And now I'm sorry to say, I'm going to start on a cranky note. Have you figured out what you're looking at in that photograph?

Here's a long shot.

Mary Sargent © 2007…………….. click to enlarge

Couldn't they figure out a nicer way to keep people from camping out in their nook? Plants, maybe?

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Financial District, Pedestrian Street between Pearl and Gold Streets

Mary Sargent © 2007 …………………………………….. click to enlarge

This street was marked Pedestrian Street on my map but not in real life and certainly not in Mapquest. It seems that when a street is permanently closed to traffic, it loses its official name and my mapmaker calls it Pedestrian Street or Pedestrian Way for lack of anything better to do. I'm just guessing. So this area is where Beekman stops at Southbridge Towers.


So you'd like a closer look at that store covered in neon?

Financial District, Beekman Street at Front Street

Mary Sargent © 2007 …………………………………….. click to enlarge

Now we're walking back on Beekman to the subway. I'd say more but my eyes are closing.

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Financial District, South Street Between Maiden Lane and Fletcher Street

Mary Sargent © 2007 …………………………………….. click to enlarge

That's Brooklyn Heights over there across the river.


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Financial District, South Street at Maiden Lane

Mary Sargent © 2007 …………………………………….. click to enlarge

I'm going to make a wild guess that this is part of the South Street Seaport Museum. Another time I'll focus on that area. Too late tonight to do anything more. The name of this ship is Wavertree. Note the glimpse of the Brooklyn Bridge.

Financial District, East River between Wall and Pine Streets

Mary Sargent © 2007 …………………………………….. click to enlarge

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Financial District, East River at Wall Street

Mary Sargent © 2007 …………………………………….. click to enlarge


There's something so relaxing about staring at water.





Mary Sargent © 2007 …………………………………….. click to enlarge

Financial District, Wall Street Between Front and South Streets

Mary Sargent © 2007 …………………………………….. click to enlarge

We're getting close to the river now and the wind is blowing hard.

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Financial District, Wall Street, Between Hanover and Pearl Streets

Mary Sargent © 2007 …………………………………….. click to enlarge

Does your neighborhood shoe repair shop reside in a building this distingushed? Mine most definitely does not.

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Financial District, Hanover Street at Wall Street

Mary Sargent © 2007 …………………………………….. click to enlarge

Hanover Street is about 3 little blocks long. Looks kind of European?

Financial District, Wall Street Between William and Hanover Streets

Mary Sargent © 2007 …………………………………….. click to enlarge

This photograph is NOT about the man in black.

Financial District, Wall Street Between William and Broad Streets

Mary Sargent © 2007 …….. click to enlarge


Bill is visiting and today after lunch at Turkuaz with some friends, he and I went on a photowalk in the Financial District, thinking it was somehow festive and in the spirit of the holiday.

It did get us out of the Upper West Side. So here's a vaguely Fourth of July photograph, looking East at Trinity Church. See the smidgen of American flag?

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