The Merchants' Exchange Building (also known as the Philadelphia Exchange''

is a historic building which is located on the triangular site bounded by Dock, 3rd and Walnut Streets in the Old City neighborhood of

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

. It was designed by architect William Strickland, in the

Greek Revival Greek Revival architecture is a architectural style, style that began in the middle of the 18th century but which particularly flourished in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, predominantly in northern Europe, the United States, and Canada, ...

style, the first national American architectural style and was built between 1832 and 1834. It operated as a brokerage house in the nineteenth century, but by 1875 the

Philadelphia Stock Exchange Philadelphia Stock Exchange (PHLX), now known as Nasdaq PHLX, is the first stock exchange established in the United States and the oldest stock exchange in the nation. The exchange is owned by Nasdaq, which acquired it in 2007 for $652 million, ...

had taken the place of the Merchants' Exchange. The building was declared a

National Historic Landmark A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a National Register of Historic Places property types, building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the Federal government of the United States, United States government f ...

in 2001.Wolf, Zana C. and Tonetti, Charles (September 30, 2000) , National Park Service and It is the oldest existing stock exchange building in the United States, but is now used as the headquarters of the Independence National Historical Park.Historical marker at the building

Origin

The City Tavern, which had been the center of the Philadelphia business community since it was built in 1773, became increasingly crowded because of the unsuitability of its floor plan to accommodate its growing clientele. At this time, Philadelphia epitomized America's ideal city by maintaining strong economic, political, and architectural advancements. The middle class was strengthening and citizens were becoming more inclined to start their own businesses, so commerce and trade continued to thrive. The economic boom of the Jacksonian era reinforced the idea among merchants that there was a need for a centralized exchange building. In 1831, a group of prominent Philadelphians led by

Stephen Girard Stephen Girard (born Étienne Girard; May 20, 1750 – December 26, 1831) was a French-born American banker and philanthropist. Born in Bordeaux, Girard subsequently immigrated to the Thirteen Colonies where he established himself in the Banking ...

, the nation's wealthiest man at the time, constructed a building for trade, commerce, and post to preside. Thus, they founded the Philadelphia Exchange Company and appointed an architect to begin the introductory stages of creating what later became the Merchants' Exchange Building.

Architecture

The

movement became particularly attractive for American architects in the late eighteenth century on account of the rising popularity of ancient Greece's democratic principles and the strong desire to recast the nation's image and further distance it from Great Britain. Greek Revival architecture began to gain favor in the United States when

Thomas Jefferson Thomas Jefferson (, 1743July 4, 1826) was an American Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father and the third president of the United States from 1801 to 1809. He was the primary author of the United States Declaration of Indepe ...

appointed

Benjamin Henry Latrobe Benjamin Henry Boneval Latrobe (May 1, 1764 – September 3, 1820) was a British-American Neoclassical architecture, neoclassical architect who immigrated to the United States. He was one of the first formally trained, professional architects in ...

to design a number of prominent buildings in

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

, and Philadelphia for the Federal government. Latrobe led the country's movement toward the Greek Revival style through the late eighteenth century and developed it for future American architects. Among several mentees of Latrobe was William Strickland, the man who was ultimately appointed architect of the Merchants' Exchange Building. Strickland's design is admired to this day for its balance of order and ornamentation, one of the ideals of the Greek Revival style. While the trustees of the Philadelphia Exchange Company chose Strickland for his increasing local popularity, his design of the Merchants' Exchange Building is remembered today not only for its reflection of the Greek Revival style, but also the uniqueness in its design."Philadelphia Merchants' Exchange"
on the ''usahistory.org'' website of the Independence Hall Association The plot of land allotted for the building was one of the few triangle plots that were not a part of William Penn's original grid layout of Philadelphia. Strickland's use of a semicircular facade at the rear of the building is an example of his ingenuity in adapting the design so that the building could naturally flow with the arch of the curved road that borders the property. Although both sides of the building have distinctively different facades, Strickland evoked the Greek Revival style through his use of marble Corinthian pillars and elaborate ornamentation. Strickland's use of the

Choragic Monument of Lysicrates The Choragic Monument of Lysicrates near the Acropolis of Athens was erected by the ''Choregos (ancient Greece), choregos'' Lysicrates, a wealthy patron of musical performances in the Theater of Dionysus, to commemorate the prize in the dithyram ...

as inspiration for the building's lantern tower drew the local press to write in a newspaper in 1831 that "Philadelphia is truly the Athens of America." Strickland later went on to be the architect of the

Second Bank of the United States The Second Bank of the United States was the second federally authorized Second Report on Public Credit, Hamiltonian national bank in the United States. Located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the bank was chartered from February 1816 to January ...

and the steeple on the Independence Hall Tower, though the Merchants' Exchange Building is still widely recognized as his greatest masterpiece because of its unique asymmetrical shape.

References

External links

Philadelphia Merchant's Exchange
* {{National Register of Historic Places in Pennsylvania, state=collapsed Buildings and structures in Independence National Historical Park History of stock exchanges in the United States Commercial buildings completed in 1834 Commercial buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Philadelphia Historic American Buildings Survey in Philadelphia National Historic Landmarks in Pennsylvania Economy of Philadelphia History of Philadelphia 19th-century architecture in the United States Greek Revival architecture in Pennsylvania 1834 establishments in Pennsylvania Stock exchange buildings Jacksonian democracy

Origin

Architecture

See also

References

External links