THE OLDEST

1. The United States Custom House

The United States Custom House, the work of architect Cass Gilbert, is a prime example of the Beaux Arts style in the city. Gilbert has other buildings in Lower Manhattan including the Woolworth Building, 90 West Street, and the New York County Lawyers' Association.

The Custom House was finished in 1907 at a cost of $7 milllion. Gilbert's sumptuous design saluted the commercial dominance of New York at the turn of the century. Ironically, the architect sited the building with its back to the source of its riches: the duty taxes levied on foreign goods entering through New York harbor. Before the federal income tax was imposed in 1916, American's main source of revenue was customs and the major generator was the Port of New York.

The four monumental sculptures by Daniel Chester French represent the continents of Africa, America, Asia and Europe. Inside, circling the elliptical dome in the grandiose rotunda, are murals painted by Reginald Marsh in 1937. They show early explorers of America and also trace the path of a ship entering New York's waters.

Recently, a new use rescued the Custom House from possible destruction. The landmarked building is now the New York base for the Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian.

Opposite the building is Bowling Green, the city's oldest public space. In its long life it's been a hog and cattle market (mid-17th centruy) and a private bowling green (late 18th century), among other uses. The English rulers fenced the green in 1771 to protect a statue of King George II. Five years later the statue and the royal crowns atop the iron fence were smashed. But much of the fence remains as a rare survivor of pre-Revolutionary times.

As you leave the Custom House, turn right on Whitehall Street, then left on Stone Street to the next location.

2. Stadt Huys and Fraunces Tavern

When 85 Broad Street (at the end of Stone Street) was built, it covered two blocks, obliterating Stone Street, the first street to be paved in the Dutch colony. The ground-floor hallway follows the original street. A marker in the sidewalk at the entrance shows the old street plan, and paving marks the original curb as well as the foundations of two buildings that stood on the Pearl Street side of the block in colonial times. Pearl Street, named for an abundance of oysters, was once the original shoreline of Manhattan.

One of the buildings on Pearl Street was a tavern built in 1641 by Dutch Director General William Kieft, who had had enough of entertaining and overnighting a steady stream of traders in his own home. Twelve years later the tavern was converted into the City Hall or Stadt Huys. A marker traces the history of the site.

The Fraunces Tavern block across the street is one of the few downtown made up solely of low-rise structures. All but the Tavern date mainly from the first half of the 19th century. These old timers stand out amidst their towering neighbors.

Fraunces Tavern is where George Washington gave his farewell address to his soldiers. The original building suffered extensive fire damage in the 19th century. In 1907 new owners, the Sons of the Revolution, commissioned the conjectural reconstruction you see here. This 18th century townhouse recreation is likely far more upscale than the original.

Make a left at the far end of 85 Broad, then a right into the alley that is the continuation of Stone Street. This run-down block provides a sense of scale for how New Amsterdam would have looked before the skyscrapers came. Our next location is Hanover Square, at the end of Stone Street.

3. Hanover Square and India House

Hanover Square was a public commons as early as 1637. The statue is of New Amsterdam-born Abraham de Peyster, a one-time governor of the British colony.

The Square, Hanover Street, and the Hanover Bank (the first occupant of 1 Hanover Square), all take their name from the House of Hanover, the German family that became the rulers of Great Britain in the early 18th century.

Now known as India House, 1 Hanover Square's architecture is inspired by Italian Renaissance palaces, a style downtown banks favored in the mid-19th century. The building dates to 1852.

In 1914 local businessmen rented the building and established a membership club for those interested in foreign trade. They chose the name India House to symbolize the Indies, then believed to represent all that was rare and exotic. The name also pays homage to the Dutch West India Company, the first colonizers of Manhattan. The club still functions.

Continue along Hanover Square to Beaver Street, where Delmonico's is at #56.

4. Delmonico's (56 Beaver Street)

In 1825 a newly arrived nephew of Lewis Del Monico opened a small restaurant next to his uncle's downtown candy store. Over the years the two Swiss immigrants operated Delmonico restaurants at seven sites, venturing as far uptown as Fifth Avenue and 26th Street.

Delmonico's reputation for fine and fashionable dining grew with its movement up the island, but Uncle Lewis always favored his downtown restaurant. After he died, his nephew demolished the building and hired James Brown Lord to design this eight-story Delmonico's in 1891. The marble portal behind the front columns was reportedly brought from Pompei by the Del Monicos. Famous diners over the years were Charles Dickens, Mark Twain, and a series of American presidents.

The building has recently been restored and the upper floors turned into residences. The restaurant has re-opened as a Continental steak house, featuring some of the dishes from the original restaurant, including Lobster Newburg, a Delmonico's creation.

Turn into the South William Street side of Delmonico's to the next location.

5. Flemish architecture on South William Street

Gently curving South William Street is another remnant of the old Dutch street plan. The quiet handful of low-rise buildings we see hark back to Manhattan's seafaring days. Again, note the contrast with the surrounding skyscrapers.

At numbers 13 and 15, the two neo-Flemish buildings demonstrate that even a century back Manhattan landlords altered their holdings to maximize rental income. Amos Eno, merchant, realtor, and major collector of views of early New York, was no exception. In 1903 he hired C.P.H. Gilbert to recast his two mid-19th century Greek Revival warehouses into a more fashionable, or at least different, guise.

At number 19 on the upper floor you can glimpse the "before" appearance of another face-lifted neighbor.

Finally, at number 21 is Block Hall, a Tudor-like half-timbered conglomeration built as a private club house. Most recently it operated as the Italian Alps restaurant. It awaits a new calling.

Turn right at Broad Street and into the 21st century at number 55 Broad.

6. 55 Broad Street

The building at 55 Broad Street had stood empty for 5 years in the mid-1990s. It was gutted, rewired for high-technology, and renamed the New York Information Technology Center to attract high-tech companies to Silicon Alley, the New York version of Silicon Valley. The first tenant, new media company N2K, signed a "cyberlease" using a digital computer tablet and pen connected to a monitor in a public ceremony.

The lobby, with an interactive 13-foot video wall on one side and a windowed control room on the other, provides a place for the high-tech tenants to showcase their work, and for public lunchtime gatherings highlighting new media innovations.

Continue north on Broad Street to the next location.

7. New York Stock Exchange (8 Broad Street)

The new nation's first securities were bonds authorized by the first Congress in 1790. They were traded under a buttonwood tree at what is now 68 Wall Street. The New York Stock Exchange traces its beginnings to those early al fresco stockbrokers.

Its headquarters today is this roman-like temple of finance by George B. Post which dates to 1903. The pediment has an interesting title: "Integrity Protecting the Works of Man."

Though the building is nearly a century old and its style centuries older, the trading done inside is state-of-the-art electronic: computers have replaced voice and gesture trading.

Ironically, behind the architecturally state-of-the-art Mercantile Exchange in nearby Battery Park City, the trading is manual and noisily vocal. You'll visit that exchange at the end of this tour.

As for the New York Stock Exchange, it is bursting at the seams and seeks more adjacent space or a new site. New York City is determined to keep it in the Wall Street area.

At the end of Broad Street at the corner of Wall Street is Federal Hall.

8. Federal Hall (26 Wall Street)

Two momentous events happened at Federal Hall when New York was the nation's first capital: the First Congress met here and George Washington was inaugurated as America's first president in 1789. The noble statue of Washington that stands in front is by J.Q.A. Ward.

The present building dates to 1835. Initially it was the nation's first Custom House, then the United States Sub-Treasury. Its Parthenon-like presence with its massive Doric columns perhaps was meant as homage to Greek democracy. Inside, however, the dome evoked the economic prowess of Rome. In the mid-19th century Federal Hall was flanked by many American banks, all wearing their own Greek temple trappings.

Today, as Federal Hall National Monument, the National Park Service operates the site as a museum. It is also a center for visitor information and for guided walking tours.

Turn left onto Wall Street and walk uphill to Trinity Church, framed by the canyons of Wall Street.

The street was named for the wooden wall the Dutch built in 1653 to prevent a feared attack by New England. But the attack came by sea and the wall came down in 1699 at the hands of the then-ruling British.

9. Trinity Church

Trinity Church (completed in 1846) was the highest structure in Manhattan for 30 years. Before crossing Broadway, look to the right and see two other "tallest" buildings. The white gothic building with the pointed green top is Cass Gilbert's Woolworth Building, the tallest in the world when it was built in 1913, and the first of its size to have electric lights. If it's a clear day, you can also see the Chrysler Building in the far distance, the tallest building in the world for a few months in 1931 until the Empire State Building claimed the title.

Trinity Parish celebrated its 300th anniversary in 1997. The current church building, Richard Upjohn's Gothic Revival style, is the third on the site. Trinity's past is documented in a small museum at the far end of the church's left aisle.

Trinity's beautifully kept chuchyard predates the church's establishment by Royal Charter in 1697. Initially it was a Dutch burial ground. Among the 1,186 graves are those belonging to William Bradford, printer to the U.S. Goverment for more than half a century; to Robert Fulton, the first person to successfully apply steam power to ship locomotion; and to Alexander Hamilton, first Secretary of the Treasury.

A reminder of Trinity's regal beginnings is the heroic statue in the southeast part of the cemetary near Broadway. It is of John Watts, the last Royal Recorder of the City of New York, who died in 1863. He served the newly independent country as a U.S. Congressman, endowed an orphanage, and was a co-founder of a public health clinic.

Before leaving Trinity Church, pause on the front steps for the famous view down Wall Street. On days when the flags are flying on the Wall Street buildings, it's a very festive sight.

Turn right and continue down Broadway.

At number 29 is an Art Deco office tower with striated marble walls, travertine floor, and elevator doors, grills, and mailbox of brushed aluminum. The train, ship and airplane on the Streamline Moderne lobby mailbox literally shout "Speed. Motion. Progress." The building is just 10 years younger than our next stop, the Cunard Building.

Continue down Broadway to the next location.

10. Cunard Building

When you enter the Cunard Building at 25 Broadway, you'll find it awash in things marine: starfish, seahorses, shells, sirens, an albatross, and the vessels of Columbus and others. All are celebrated in paintings, murals, and medallions.

The grandly presented theme underscores the power and reach of the Cunard Line when its new headquarters opened in 1919. It was a time when New York City also exercised great power and reach. The metropolis had become the largest city and busiest port in the world.

The Renaissance-inspired limestone exterior leads to a lavish vestibule and great hall where transatlantic voyages were booked. Legendary sea creatures still flourish and Cunard's steamship routes beckon on the walls.

Today we cross the oceans by jet, forcing Cunard to downsize and abandon 25 Broadway three decades back. In 1976 the United States Post Office leased the ornate first floor. This plebian use, fitted out in a workaday, unsympathetic manner, has at least kept the magnificent decorations on view and undamaged.

You can see the next location on the triangle ahead on the left.

11. Charging Bull

We are near the beginning of Broadway, which started life as an Indian trail running along a ridge on the once hilly land known as Mannahata. Much of the island has long since been flattened, yet this section of Broadway hints at the character of the original path.

The Dutch called it Heere Straat; the British, Great George. By early 1899 it was Broadway.

The fabled canyons of Lower Manhattan developed from superimposing skyscrapers on the narrow streets of a 17th-century plan. Lower Broadway is an ideal stage for the parades that take place here. Early honorees were showered with ticker tape, but today we follow the stock and bond markets on-screen, so the paper raining down comes from office shredders.

The 7,000 pound bronze bull ahead is a favorite tourist photo op. SoHo sculptor Arturo DeModica's creation made its first public, but highly unofficial, appearance in front of the New York Stock Exchange in December 1989. It was quickly shunted to a police impound lot. Media attention roused the public to call for the return of the bull and the New York City Parks Department found this strategic spot for an icon embodying Wall Street's optimism.

Continue down Broadway to the next location at Number One.

12. One Broadway

This relatively small 1882 neoclassical building marks the beginning of Broadway. General Washington's revolutionary headquarters was an even earlier occupant of the site.

The owners, known eventually as the United States Line, incorporated many marine symbols in a 1921 facade update, just as their competitor the Cunard Line had done two years earlier. The grand entryway is surrounded by shells and sea icons, and the second floor windows alternate with colorful Venetian mosaic shields of great port cities. Inside, two gigantic murals depict shipping lanes and a compass dominates the marble floor.

The booking room is modelled after an 18th century ballroom. It is a regal setting with columns and fanciful iron mezzanine railings at either end and four impressive chandeliers. The current tenant uses it as its banking floor.

To make a statement about your own status, you can enter or leave by one of the two doors facing Battery Place. One is for First Class, the other, Cabin.

Turn right and walk down Battery Place to the newest neighborhood in Manhattan.

13. Battery Place

This is another part of New Yorks' original shoreline. Now it forms the northern boundary of Battery Park, one of the city's most popular tourist destinations. The Battery was originally an island named for the row of guns positioned here by the British. Slowly but surely landfill surrounded it, making it part of a greater island.

The small yellow building on the edge of the park is a remnant of the city's first subway line, the Interborough Rapid Transit, known more often today as the Green Line. Heins and La Farge, the architects, also designed a much larger building uptown, the Cathedral of St. John the Divine.

Battery Place ends at Pier A on the Hudson River. This building is the only remaining pier shed in Manhattan from Victorian times. The clock tower is a memorial to the soldiers and sailors killed in World War I. Pier A is undergoing restoration and will open as a restaurant complex in 1999.

Go through the black iron gates to Wagner Park (closed from dusk to dawn).

THE NEWEST

14. Wagner Park

Once you walk through the tall iron gates across West Street, you are in Battery Park City, a 92-acre landfill site whose dirt came from excavations for the World Trade Center. One third of the residential and commercial complex is devoted to public areas, plazas, gardens, and parks.

This is Robert F. Wagner Jr. Park, designed as a quiet spot for passive pursuits, with benches among the plantings, a large grass terrace, and a cafe. At the top of the brick pavillion, which creates a frame for the Statue of Liberty, is a stunning view and plaques to help identify what you're seeing. All around along the neighborhood's 1.5-mile-long Hudson River Esplanande are sculptures by known and emerging artists.

Keeping such a beautiful oasis maintained carries a high price tag: an annual $4 per square foot. That's at least 10 times the average New York City spends to tend a square foot of public parkland. Why such a big difference? Renters and owners in Battery Park City are assessed for the amenity that benefits them as well as all the city's residents.

The low gray building with the stepped roof is the Museum of Jewish Heritage. Its hexagonal shape evokes the six million Jews who were killed in the Holocaust as well as the Star of David.

With the river on your left, continue along the esplanade to the next location.

15. South Cove

South Cove, the second of the parks we're visiting along the Hudson, takes you back to the Manhattan shoreline of a century or two ago. You're surrounded by rock outcroppings; free flowing wild plantings; wooden walks, jetty and pilings; and the sound and smell of the sea.

The platform which you can climb for a breathtaking view has been likened to the crown of the Statue of Liberty and to a ship's prow.

South Cove's masterful design comes from the collaborative effort of artist Mary Miss, architect Stanton Eckstut, and landscape architect Susan Child.

The view across the Hudson from this intimate little inlet is a delight by day, at dusk, and in the evening when the lights from New Jersey add their sparkle to the scene. And the Cove's own blue harbor lights add a special note. The big clock face on the Jersey shore is a leftover from the Colgate manufacturing plant once located on the waterfront in Jersey City.

Continuing on Battery Park City's extraordinary promenade affords ever-changing views of the harbor, New Jersey, Ellis Island and the Lady of the Harbor. And, on your right, you'll be seeing some special public art.

Continue to follow the esplanade to the public sculpture.

16. Public sculpture on the esplanade

The public sculptures that call Battery Park City home were all commissioned for their particular sites, not afterthoughts bought and inserted after the fact.

At the first entry point into the residential area, you'll see Richard Artshwager's idea of public deck furniture, including two outsize slatted chairs.

At the next entry point, the intersection of the Esplanade and Rector Place is heralded by R.M. Fischer's Rector Gate. The fanciful 50-foot-high gateway could be considered a triumphal arch, 21st century style. Rector Gate, which is lit at night, leads to another of the complex's green spaces, Rector Park.

The next sculpture along the Hudson is hard to miss since it measures 34 by 67 feet. Sculptor Ned Smyth called his neo-Egyptian roofless temple The Upper Room. It contains a long table, twelve stools, an altar-like structure, and a concrete palm tree inset with mosaic tiles. Through The Upper Room is a view of Cass Gilbert's building at 90 West Street with its terra cotta ornamental topping.

Just past the Upper Room, between the buildings and trees, is the tip of a green tower in the distance: Cass Gilbert's Woolworth Building, framed by the towers of the World Trade Center. When it was built in 1913, the Woolworth Building was the tallest in the world. When the Trade Center was completed in the 1970s, it was only the second-tallest.

In your walk along the Esplanade you've observed that this is where Battery Park Cityites and their fellows play—biking, blading, and speed walking. But, under the shady allée of lindens, they also walk their dogs, stroll, sit, talk, play with their children, and read the day's newspaper.

Continue to follow the esplanade to the Mercantile Exchange in the World Financial Center, on the far side of the marina next to the water.

17. The Mercantile Exchange

The Mercantile Exchange is the newest commercial building in Battery Park City, dating from 1997. The two trading floors and a museum can be visited during business hours. The granddaddies in this World Financial Center part of the complex are the corporate headquarters of Dow Jones and American Express. They opened eight years earlier.

The Exchange puts a contemporary architectural face to the public. Inside, however, the trading is old style—vociferous, manual, you might even say chaotic. Using a system called "open outcry," commodities from gasoline to gold are bought and sold at a speed of almost 1,000 contracts a minute. If a trader doesn't have a strong or distinct voice, he or she is out of the game.

While the bargaining is done hands on and full throated, once the deal is made, the end results do get processed electronically. First though, the selling terms are rapidly jotted down on a pit card, the card thrown into the trading ring, and the handwritten data entered into a computer.

Seen from the water, the buildings of the World Financial Center provide a foreground for the towers of the World Trade Center. North Cove Yacht Harbor, the only large yacht marina next to a commercial center, and the plazas and gardens around it are the setting for many community activities and public events for the residents and workers of Battery Park City. Historic ships, private luxury yachts, and charter boats dock here, continuing lower Manhattan's long-standing association with the waterways around it.

Here ends our Newest to Oldest Tour of Lower Manhattan. You many wish to extend it by relaxing in one of Battery Park City's public areas, perhaps Rockefeller Park, further north along the Esplanade. Or you might take a walk through the see-through Winter Garden where 16 palm trees luxuriate under a 120-foot-high vaulted glass dome. Or, by taking an escalator or the grand marble staircase in the Winter Garden, you can get to a pedestrian bridge that connects to the World Trade Center and your choice of subways.