Merchants' Exchange, Project, Wall Street

The columned, domed Merchant's Exchange building on the block facing Wall Street, between William and Hanover Streets, was surmounted by neoclassic sculptures and a relief frieze engraved "Erected MDCCCXXXVIII." It seems that the allegorical sculptures at the top were never put in place.

The first Merchants' Exchange building was completed in 1827. It was home of the New York Stock and Exchange Board, the post office (basement), the Chamber of Commerce and other offices.

Below, another engraving of the projected Merchants' Exchange building, copyrighted 1837, by William C. Kramp, architect and lithographer. Isaiah Rogers was the designer. William Street is on the right, showing the building that housed Delmonico’s Restaurant at 56 Beaver Street, in the distance (See enlargement of the William Street). Source: Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. Printed on building at lower right: Benedict, Benedict & Co. Watches & Jewelry. Some text from the Library of Congress about this image: «After the Great Fire of 1835, which destroyed the 1827 New York Merchants' Exchange building, the Exchange purchased lots and hired Isaiah Rogers to erect a new building in 1836. As this building was not completed until 1841, this is likely a prospective view. Samuel Benedict had had his business at the corner of Wall and William streets until 1835.»

In February 1836, the Merchants' Exchange's committee of trustees proposed to build a larger building on the site of the older structure, destroyed by fire in 1835. Construction of the new building, designed by architect Isaiah Rogers (1800-1869), began the same year and it was completed in the early 1840s.

This undated hand-colored illustration was drawn by C.L. Warner (probably in 1836) based on Rogers' original design (copyright Jone 1837). It was printed and published at John Henry Bufford's lithographic establishment in New York. Source: collection of graphic arts and social history, Huntington Digital Library. Continue below...