5 – A maiden slinks across the street at the junction of Maiden Lane and Water Street. Behind her is 8 Pine Street (1961), designed by Emery Roth & Sons.
The maiden, enters and commences her desperate refrain in a contralto voice:
“Pass over me! / Pass over me! / Go, you wild man-of-bones! / I am still young. / Go, rather, / And don’t touch me / And don’t touch me!”
But how could Death resist? When in the midst of this landscape of harsh, towering skyscrapers – mirroring the highly agitated nature of the maiden’s refrain – dozens of maidens, in the flower of their youth, slink by, without a care in the world.
(For information on specific buildings on Liberty Street, I am indebted to the awesome New York Songlines: Virtual Walking Tours of Manhattan Streets, at http://www.nysonglines.com)
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4 – Continental Center (1982) in the middle, Wall Street Plaza (1973), by I. M. Pei to the right, contrasted against a building from the 1930s, to the left.
6 – A banker smokes on the other side of Maiden Lane and Water Street. To his left is Water Street Plaza (1959), by Sylvan and Robert Bien.
7 – A maiden slinks down Maiden Lane. Behind her is the headquarters of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York (1919 – 35), designed by York & Sawyer in the style of a Renaissance fortress.
8 – A maiden sits with her gentleman friend at Nevelson Plaza, adorned with Shadows by Flags, by artist Louise Nevelson.
9 – A maiden slinks by the Renaissance Fortress that is the New York Fed. This building holds the largest stock of gold in the world, in its basement vaults.
B – The Maiden
Dream Of A City 