New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1858-01-09
WHAT CHARLES MCKAY SAYS ABOUT
BROADWAY.
From Tie Hlu,irr'sd LcaSoa Eers.


people of pride cOnce and presumption. Smart
ing under sense of injuries inflicted him, no,
by the State City of NewYork which had not the
remotest connection with his grievances real or sup.
posed be hurled this sweeping Pronunciation against
all the Sates-declaTing among other odd things in
| his own odd way, THAT this new and vain people
could never forgive England because Broadway was
inferior TO Bond street. IL il fourteen years since
the Rev Sydney Smith Thus dsburdeued his mind be-
his pockets had been previously iIburdened by
his desire OF making more than five per cent by
the Transatlantic investment of his money; aud four.
teen years have, doubtless. mad" great dference 10
the aspect of the Broadway, we'll in that of New
| York generally. But, whatever may have been the
appearance of this great artery of NewYork in that
remote period III ts hstOrya period when travellers
told us pigs prowled about the principal thorough fares
and lay down at night on the marble dOOr-step4 oi
marble palaces snug, and in afiectionate familiarity
with Irish emgrunts- Sydney Smiths assertion 81
Broadway inferorty 10 Bond street j. ludrcrously
| untrue at the present time. Bond street! qnotha
Bond street is no more to he compared to Broadway
for beauty, extent, life, hustle and wealth than
dingy old iarthing OF the reign of George III. 10
bright new sovereign of the days OF Queen Victoria
There is 10 street IN London, Paris, Berlin Vienna
that can be declared superior, or even equal, all
things considered to the Broadway 1t il n street sv'
geRcTts combining in itself the characteristics of the
Boulevard dies ltaliens at Paris aud Chcapsie OF
Fleet street in London, with here and there dash
of Whtechape or the Minores and here aud
there a dash of Liverpool aud Dublin. 1t is
longer, more crowded and fuller of fine build.
ings than the Partisan Boulevard; more busting
than Cheapside; and has sky above IL a. bright a.
the ky of Venice Naples. Its aspect is thoroughly
Parsian. Were il not for the old familiar names Of
Smith Jones' and Brown over the doors otthe stores
aud warehouses, and the English posting-bills and
advertisements that everywhere meet the eye, the
stranger might fancy himself under the maXimsed
government aud iron gip OF Napoleon l. instead OF
being under that OF the minimized and mild govern
ment of American Republics government 50 in
finite Snaliy light in its weight, aud carried by
persons little known, that strangers in this the
Empire State, il is called end even the citizens
Them elves, are scarcely more cOgnIant OF the name
OF the Governor than Londoner of the name of the
High Sheriff Of Flinshire or the Lord Lieutenant Of
Merioneth.
If England have given names to the people In
Broadway, France and Continental Europe seem 70
have given them their manners. Fagstaffs on the
roof of every third or fourth house, banners Haunting
from the windows, constant rattattOO OF drums as
attachments of the militia regiments aud very fine
regiments they are, aud very spendidly accOuteredD
pass to- and fro, all add TO the illusion and 1t Il only
the wellknown venacuar of the City of st. Pauls,
spced occasionally with the still piquant YER
nacular of the city of St. Patricks that bring the
cheated fancy buck to the reality and prove to
the EnglishmGn that he is among his own people
Were there anything like uniformity IN the design
of its long lines of buildings, Broadway would be the
most magnificent street in the world Even without
any general des yn-for each man builds exactly az
he peases-tle street, in its details, surpasses any
thing TINT Europe show. From the Battery faclng
the seu where the Broadway has very ignoble COM
mencement, TO Trinity Church, there is nothing re-
markabe about it; but from Trinity Church, OF brown
stone with its elegant spire, to Grace Church. built
entirely of white marble, distance in straight line
of more than three miles, and thence ON to Union
square and the statue at Washington, the Broad.
way offers one grand succession of commercial
palaces Formerly - and perhaps when sydney
Smith ~rotoths houses >vore ..,r the m"st r""t -
brick, gayly coored, with here aud there mouse
of bnwn stone granite. But the brick 10 N
gradual process of extirpatiOn. and white marble
pure, gstening brilliant white marble, without speck
= Alxy knut ta MI liza tfnrlt
written in the st. Nicholas Hotel one OF the moss
sumptuous buildings in New-York-a palace OF white
marble with upward OF one hundred windows fronting
the Broadway To the right, and to the lett, aud IN
front are other palaces of the material, pure as
Parian-lnrger than the largest warehouses IN St
Paups Churchyard and devoted 10 the same and sim
liar purposes; some for the wholesale, hut the great
majority for the retail, trade. Dry goods or linen
draper stores compete with each other in the of
this costly stone and such has been, and is the rage
for ita rage certain To revive when the present com
mercial panic shall subsidehat in few years hence
a house of any other material will be the exception TO
the rule in Broadway, and the main thoroughares
leading from il to the east aud the west.
Most of these buildings, taken separately, are
fine specimens of architecture far finer than any
thing London show out of Regent street; but
the general effect il not striking, from the total alb.
sence of plan and method already alluded to- and which
seems to b. inevitable ia country where every man
is portion of the Government and oi the Sovereignty,
and considers himself bound to consult nobodys taste
but his But this peculiarly IL not c0nnned TO
America or st. Pauls ChurchyGrd would not be
what il il, and the noble proportions Of the Cathedral
would not be marred rs they are by the too close
proximity of the hideous warehouses that have been
piled up around U-monuments alike OF colnnlerclaI
pride and bad taste. Brown stone eihces RINK next
in size and numberto the marble palaces ana 'e"
of cast iron. with elegant Corntlan pillars, add to
the variety of architecture in the Broadway. Con
slcuous among tho ediices that give Us most ihpos
ng character this busy and beautiful street are such
hotels as the ST. Nicholas, the Metropolitan, Tie La
L.. -, thn
Everett House, and the Aston House. The last
mentioned was, some years ago, the boast ana prde
of New-York, and the wonder of strangers Ont the
city has outgrown its southern UNITS anu sTtt'heu
itself far away into the north and northwest alu such
hotels AZ the -. Nicholas and the Metropolitan nave
dwarfed the Asor House size and eclipsed II IN
| splendor. The 81. Nicholas makes up nearly one
thousand beds, and the Metropolitan Ia brown stone
palace) nearly az many. Both of these rs well as the
others mentioned represent the magnificent scale on
which the Newl orkers do business ss well ~ me
| more than Partisan publicity with which travelling
families eat and drink and pass the day. nu' .ns
| hotel life of great cities is both curious Apo
peculiar feature In american manuers when ihuSt oe
deserved for future description. Neither France nor
Britain offers any parallel even resemblance 70 H.
Enough for the present on the street arcn'eG'uo ~
| Broadway. few words on its physical ana uioral
aspects are necessary to complete the picture oh
each side of the street are rows OF American e, WIN
here and there willow, sumach, or mountaih usn'
AT this date all the trees are leahess eIcept ne WIZ
lows which still droop in green beauty, though some
what shrveed in their leaves by the irosts OF the at
three nights. The roadway is exceilent!y paved WIN
granite, and the foot payements are eqaaiiy goca:
But let not the traveller be deceived into the ie eas
| the part il a specimen of the whole. The Broadway
monopolizes nearly all the good pavement as well as
cleanliness that New-York affords and the streets
that branch off from it each side are uneyen ui,Iy
and full Of deep holes and ruts through "i.'
ragedriying is far from being either easy or agree
| able If there be any exception Il is IN the Tntn
svenue-the Tyburnia, or Begravin OF rhIa
where the richest people live, IN "h',s alai 70
broadway, but sufficiently luxurious and Imposing