15/5/3090.00354
Wall Street West of William Street
Unidentified photographer
Photograph date: ca. 1882
Notes: The New York Historical Society owns another copy of this photograph, and has supplied the following caption in explaining the date assigned to the image: "In 1883, the two buildings nearest the camera--the Manhattan Company (left) at 40 Wall Street and the Merchant's Bank at No. 42--were replaced by one structure that joined the rival companies into one, the Manhattan and Merchants Bank. The figure of Neptune resting above the entrance to the Manhattan Company was an appropriate symbol for the second oldest bank in the city, incorporated in 1799 to supply the city with a pure water source. Further west on Wall Street appears the oldest building on the street, the colonnaded Assay Office, and just beyond it the Subtreasury Building at the Northeast corner of Nassau Street." (Source: Mary Black, Old New York in Early Photographs. New York: Dover, 1973, pl. 26) The spire of Trinity Church is visible in the background.
Credit Line: Transfer from the College of Architecture, Art & Planning