Omaha daily bee., 1903-04-23
ROUND ABOUT NEW YORK.
Ripples ON the Current of Life in the
Metropolis.

Metropolis.
The new home of the New York Stock
exchange, which was dedicated with ap-
propriate ceremonies yesterday, Is an i'm
posing marble building Of nine stories,
located almost on the spot where
the first tribe OF brokers met under the
shelter Of a butternut tree 101 years ago.
The main or the show front Of the build
ing is on Broad street and is noteworthy
because of It's six Corlnthian columns, 81
feet in height and 66 inches in diameter,
surmounted by a pediment, for the tympa-
mum Of which j. Q. A. Ward has designed
a series of sculptures whose main theme
is Integrity, represented by a central te-
male figure, to whom the arts and indus
tries bear their fruits for adjustment. The
Wall street end Of the structure. which oc-
cupies an irregular quadrilateral, having
frontages of 1873 feet on Broad street and
1853 feet on New street, with a depth Of $50
feet, is less ornate but equally appropriate.
The main effort was to provide a suitable
board room, where the active trading is
done, and to this end the architecture has
yielded.
The entrance to the exchange from the
main Broad street doors, reveal flights Of
marble steps to right and left leading to
the floor Of the board room. Directly
ahead are corridors running through the
basement. This is devoted to the members
coat rooms, to the ofices of the cable and
telegraph companies and to. Offices for use
as barber shops, news stands and so on.
In the endorsement are the rooms for en-
ployes, the vaults for securities and much
of the costly machinery which serves to
light, heat and ventilate the structure.
The apparatus for the latter purposes cost
more than $500 ,00c. In the telegraph and
cable Offices are the outlets Of the pneu-
matte tube system, which, with it's
branches, taps every room in the building.
Following the marble steps to the floor Of
the board room. immensely is the first
impression given. 1t is a hall respondent
in gold leaf and pure white marble, 140
feet long, from Broad to New street, and
10S feet wide. from the Wall street to the
south end, with Its ceiling 70 feet above
the floor. In the center of the ceiling is a
colored glass skylight 30 feet square. The
Broad and New street ends of the room are
simply great windows, sustained by iron
mullions, through which are seen the Corin-
THAN pillars OF each facade. There are
s 1000 square feet of floor space, and this
expanse is broken only by the trading posts,
fifteen in number, scattered about 1t, and
by the parallel rows OF telephone booths
on the New street end, which extend some
eighteen feet into the room proper.
The walls of the room are broken on the
Wall street and south ends by huge call
boards, on which are displayed the num-
bers of brokers who are wanted at the tele-
phones. These are in the centers of the
ends and cover 800 square feet Of space.
| fJlu.. AttE a-N- 4 am 1900. -...a
uring sx12 inches each.
On each side of the boards are gigantic
slabs of Sienna marble, splendidly streaked
with gray veins, running from the vain
scoting to the ceiling border. They seem
to be solid slabs at least IL feet wide and
rs feet high. The Broad and New street
sides are broken by the great windows,
weighing some thirteen tons each, and by
two iron galleries, one on either side, that
on the Broad street side for the visitors.
and the others for members, who enter It
from the smoking room on the second floor.
The north wall is also pierced by an arch
which leads to the reception room, entered
from the north lev street door. The
south wall is similarly pierced for doors
leading In the east corner to the elevators
and stairs running to the upper floors.
The ceiling Of the board room about
the glass dome is indented with square
panels. in each Of which is an open leafed
gilded hover which holds in its center the
ground glass globe Of IN electric light.
There are about sixty Of these lights. The
decorations are all in gold and marble.
The needs Of the board room in the mat
ter Of light were such that the upper floors
of the building have been arranged in q
square about this central dome. On the
various floors to the seventh are the mum.
erous committee rooms, and ON the Wal
street front, shaped like a wedge, are
placed on successive floors ofhces for com.