HISTORY PANEL 29

Title: Trinity Church 1907

Subtitle: Broadway and Wall Street, seen from Trinity Place

Text: Set amidst an ancient graveyard, Trinity Church faces Broadway at the head of Wall Street, anchoring one of the most powerful urban vistas in the world. Completed in 1846, the Gothic Revival church by architect Richard Upjohn was the third building since 1698 to be erected on the site by its Episcopal congregation.

At 284 feet, the spire of Trinity Church was the tallest structure in New York until the 1880s. By 1906, it was dwarfed by skyscrapers that lined Broadway and savored the sunlight and views preserved by the large cemetery. The corner of Broadway and Wall Street, at the right of the church, shows the construction site for a slender eighteen-story tower at 1 Wall Street that was built on a lot only 30 by 40 feet. That tower was torn down in 1929 for the great Art Deco skyscraper with the same address. Passing by the rear of the church is an elevated train traveling on Trinity Place and north on Church Street.

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