THE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE in Wall Street, is a massive pile of white marble, in the Renaissance style, with decorations in bronze. Between the columns are statues of Alexander Hamilton by Martini, De Witt Clinton by French, and John Jay by Bitter, and above the entrance are groups symbolical of Commerce. The vestibule admits to a monumental hall and broad stairway of Caen stone. Admission is by card of a member.
The Chamber is a magnificent apartment ninety feet long, sixty feet in width and thirty feet high. It is lighted through an enormous skylight in the ceiling; and the walls, unbroken to a height of twenty feet, are hung with the Chamber's large collection of portraits of New York merchants.
The Chamber of Commerce in Wall Street, organized in 1768, is an association of merchants which concerns itself with questions affecting domestic and foreign commerce, the welfare of the city and national interests. It has had large influence in the development of the port of New York and the city's growth and commercial expansion. The annual dinner given by the Chamber of Commerce is an occasion of discussion of public questions.
|