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| 20 Exchange place - photo: Wikimedia common |
Wall st Sector is home to some truly amazing architecture,but 20Exchange Place, in many respects, is unique amongst the others. At 741 feet tall(59 floors)with some of the most elegant, beautiful Art-Deco style carvings and symbols, its an architectural work of art. Formerly known as the City-Bank-Farmer's trust Building, it was built between 1930-1931, for the newly merged National City-Bank of New York and the Farmers loan and trust company; predecessor firms of Citigroup.Designed byCross & Crossto have no particular architectural style, it was described at the time as being in the "Modern Classic" style, with minimal Art-Deco ornamentation. Some of these ornaments have a powerful visual meaning. Land, Sea, Air, secret knowledge(the entwined serpents). With delicate strong, simple Art-Deco style face's at the top of the base and symbols, adorning some of the facade and metal doors, the building radiates a great force all its own; a silent witness to the passage of time and the changing skyline of N.Y.C. In 1996 it was designated a landmark. It made an appearance in the movie "Wall Street", served as several different bank locations in the 'Fringe' episode "safe". In 2006 the building served as a fictional branch of the "Manhattan Trust Bank", in the movie 'Inside Man'(Spike Lee).Currently, the 16th through the 57th floors are now residential spaces. One day last week, while exploring the area I came upon Stephen Scheer, a photographer and Architectural sleuth. Mr Scheer is at present capturing the images for a web-site devoted these buildings. As soon as I saw him and the strange looking camera he was using, I was thankful to meet another person who respected and understood the aged beauty of 20 Exchange Place. Article by K.K.W
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| 20 Exchange place. Photo: Wikimedia common |
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| Possibly add in honor of the age of shipping and Luxury liners. Canon IXY |
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| Stephen Scheer @ work. He actually polished a few of the symbols before taking the pictures. Canon IXY |
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| Stephen Scheer. A man prepared for battle. He brought a ladder, luggage cart, metal polish, and I think a sandwich. Canon IXY |
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| I this one is a Locomotive. Canon IXY |
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| Canon IXY |
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| The entwined serpents is common glyph on various buildings throughout the City. It stands for secret Knowledge. Canon IXY |
Its amazing that a building like that can be built in only a year.
ReplyDeleteNow it takes 3, 4, 6 years to build one. By the way the glyphs are really cool, but you should take more photos of them:)
The photographer Stephen A. Scheer, would not have polished the doors. They were most certainly polished by the authority of the building management. It is possible that he had a sandwich, or would have liked one. Check out his website: interboroughnewyork.com
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