NEW YORK. 



241 



and public buildings, and few streets in the world equal it for the splendor, bustle, and fashion 

 it exhibits. The Battery is an enclosed promenade on the shore at the southern extremity of 

 the city ; it is planted with trees, and though not extensive, is pleasant, much frequented, and 

 offers a delightful view of the harbor. There are several other parks or squares. That called 

 the Park is a triangular enclosure of 1 1 acres in the centre of the city ; upon one side of this 

 stands the City Hall, an elegant structure, with a front of white marble ; it is 216 feet long and 

 105 broad, and is one of the finest buildings in the country. The Merchants' Exchange is » 



Merchants' Eichavge {now hiuldmg 1840.) 



splendid edifice of granite, situated in Wall Street. St. Paul's Chapel is esteemed one 

 of the finest buildings in the city ; its spire is 234 feet high. St. John's Chapel has a spire 

 240 feet in height, and is the most costly church in the city, having been built at the expense 

 of 200,000 dollars. St. Patrick's Cathedral, a Roman Catholic edifice, is the largest of all 

 the churches, and is of stone, 120 feet long and 80 wide. There are more than 150 additional 

 churches, some of them very costly. Trinity Church is now (1840.) rebuilding, and 

 belongs to the oldetit and richest episcopal establishment in America, possessing a property 

 to the amount of several millions of dollars. The Unitarian Church of the Messiah, recently 

 erected, is one of the handsomest churches in the country. The Custom-house, in Wall Street, 



is a massive and costly structure, 

 177 feet long, with a Doric por- 

 tico on each front ; the Halls of 

 Justice, a fine building in the 

 Egyptian style ; the University 

 Hall, an elegant structure in the 

 collegiate style, with a front of 

 190 feet ; the halls of Columbia 

 College ; the New York Hos- 

 pital ; Astor House, a hotel of 

 Quincy granite, containing 390 

 rooms ; the Almshouse at Belle- 

 vue ; the Penitentiary on Black - 

 well's Island, in East River, &c., 

 are among the other ])ublic build- 

 ings. Numerous benevolent and 

 Unirrrsity Hnll. charitable institutions and socie- 



