We have already learned much about New York by visiting a museum and reading books. It was the time to physically go and learn how the Dutch started to first build Manhattan. When I stood on Wall street in lower Manhattan with the Professor explaining how the Dutch settled the area, I was able to really put everything that I saw in the Museum of the City of New York and everything I read in the textbooks finally together. I could picture in my head how the Dutch settled here. It was a very interesting feeling for sure.
We started off on Bowling Green Street. It is amazing to see that a little park originally built by the Dutch was still there.
Our professor also took us to see some Dutch buildings. I remembered walking by those buildings before and thinking they had a very European feeling to them without knowing that they had originally been built by the Dutch! It was very interesting that no one sold the property and just kept the building how it was originally built. Especially down on Wall street where the land is prime property. If a landlord built a tall office building instead of keeping the old building there, he or she would have potentially made a lot more money. However, I was very impressed that the government took over the rights to the property and kept it safe. That reminds me of my country, South Korea, where it is really hard to find old historic buildings in Seoul. Most of them were demolished and instead, modern looking and much higher buildings were built in their place. It is so sad that these historic landmarks cannot be kept safe due to the lack of land and space there. Even though Manhattan equally lacks space (if not more), I like the fact that the government purposely tries to keep its historical sites safe from development.
Our tour included a lot of walking. Some of the side walks were wider and flatter and made walking easier, but some were narrow and bumpy. These streets gave me images of the 1700s when the city was first built. There are still a lot of small, narrow and meandering streets in Lower Manhattan which I can't see in other parts of the city. I had never given much thought about these smaller streets, but after understanding New York's history more, everything is reflected in a new light and has new meaning to me. It's a great feeling.
The next architecture we arrived at was the New York Stock Exchange building located on Broad Street. The NYSE building was designed by George B. Post, cost $4million to build and opened on April 1903. This is one of the most famous tourist destinations since it houses the world's largest and most liquid stock exchange. There have been several historic events that have happened at the New York Stock Exchange in its time. One of them was on September 1920 when a bomb exploded on Wall street just outside the NYSE. The New York Stock Exchange building and JP Morgan building, which is located across the street from NYSE, still have marks on their facades from that bombing.
The last stop was the Trinity church which is located on intersection of Broadway and Wall street. The first Trinity church was built in 1698. It was the first church that NYC had. Unfortunately, the first church was destroyed by fire in 1776 and a second Trinity church, designed by architect Richard Upjohn, was built 1846.
On the way back to subway station, we stopped in front of a building with a bland architecture of being a straight rectangle from bottom to the top. The building casted a huge shadow on each of the sidewalks. Our professor said that after this building was built, NYC worried if all streets in Manhattan might end up being cast in the dark by the shadows of tall buildings. To try and solve this problem, NYC created a law where new buildings could not be built as a straight rectangle after a certain height. In other words, tall buildings would have to have layers like stairs that would hopefully allow light to hit the streets.
We started off on Bowling Green Street. It is amazing to see that a little park originally built by the Dutch was still there.
Our professor also took us to see some Dutch buildings. I remembered walking by those buildings before and thinking they had a very European feeling to them without knowing that they had originally been built by the Dutch! It was very interesting that no one sold the property and just kept the building how it was originally built. Especially down on Wall street where the land is prime property. If a landlord built a tall office building instead of keeping the old building there, he or she would have potentially made a lot more money. However, I was very impressed that the government took over the rights to the property and kept it safe. That reminds me of my country, South Korea, where it is really hard to find old historic buildings in Seoul. Most of them were demolished and instead, modern looking and much higher buildings were built in their place. It is so sad that these historic landmarks cannot be kept safe due to the lack of land and space there. Even though Manhattan equally lacks space (if not more), I like the fact that the government purposely tries to keep its historical sites safe from development.
Our tour included a lot of walking. Some of the side walks were wider and flatter and made walking easier, but some were narrow and bumpy. These streets gave me images of the 1700s when the city was first built. There are still a lot of small, narrow and meandering streets in Lower Manhattan which I can't see in other parts of the city. I had never given much thought about these smaller streets, but after understanding New York's history more, everything is reflected in a new light and has new meaning to me. It's a great feeling.
The next architecture we arrived at was the New York Stock Exchange building located on Broad Street. The NYSE building was designed by George B. Post, cost $4million to build and opened on April 1903. This is one of the most famous tourist destinations since it houses the world's largest and most liquid stock exchange. There have been several historic events that have happened at the New York Stock Exchange in its time. One of them was on September 1920 when a bomb exploded on Wall street just outside the NYSE. The New York Stock Exchange building and JP Morgan building, which is located across the street from NYSE, still have marks on their facades from that bombing.
The last stop was the Trinity church which is located on intersection of Broadway and Wall street. The first Trinity church was built in 1698. It was the first church that NYC had. Unfortunately, the first church was destroyed by fire in 1776 and a second Trinity church, designed by architect Richard Upjohn, was built 1846.
On the way back to subway station, we stopped in front of a building with a bland architecture of being a straight rectangle from bottom to the top. The building casted a huge shadow on each of the sidewalks. Our professor said that after this building was built, NYC worried if all streets in Manhattan might end up being cast in the dark by the shadows of tall buildings. To try and solve this problem, NYC created a law where new buildings could not be built as a straight rectangle after a certain height. In other words, tall buildings would have to have layers like stairs that would hopefully allow light to hit the streets.
No comments:
Post a Comment