Merchants' Exchange, Floor Plan of the Original Building
Plan of main floor of the original Merchants' Exchange by architect Josiah R. Brady (ca. 1760–1832). Source: collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
The Merchants’ Exchange Company was incorporated in 1823 and the building was completed in 1827. It was one of the largest edifices in New York City at the time.
This plan above, or part of it, was probably drawn after the building was destroyed by fire in 1835. Brady died in 1832. He designed the Merchants' Exchange building with architect Martin Euclid Thompson (1786–1877) about 1824. At this time, Alexander Jackson Davis (1803-1892) was a young artist, who drew some of the plans for the Merchants' Exchange building. In 1829, the architectural firm of Ithiel Town (1784-1844) and A. J. Davis was formed with offices in the Merchants’ Exchange.
The principal entrance to the rotunda and exchange room was by a flight of ten marble steps. On ascending to the portico three doors opened to offices. Four principal rooms were attached to the exchange room, including the reading-room, and, in the rear of the rotunda, another room was used for auction sales of real estate, shipping, and stocks. To the right of this, after ascending a flight of stairs, the saloon, in which the Board of Brokers assembled daily, presented itself to the spectator. The statue of Alexander Hamilton by Robert Ball Hughes (1804-1868) was installed near the center of the rotunda and unveiled by April 1835.
Merchants Room, exchange room, public room or the Rotunda.
The constructed building.
|
Copyright © Geographic Guide - Old Images of NYC. Historic Buildings of 19th Century. |
Merchants' Exchange, Floor Plan of the Original Building