"If you look up there between the buildings," said the guide on the Circle Line boat tour around Manhattan, "you will see Trinity Church at thetop of the street." The street in question was Wall Street.

"If you look up there between the buildings," said the guide on the Circle Line boat tour around Manhattan, "you will see Trinity Church at thetop of the street." The street in question was Wall Street.

I had never thought of Wall Street as a place in its own right. In the same way that we talk about Downing Street to mean the Prime Minister,Wall Street usually refers to a financial centre. The name is synonymous with the New York Stock Exchange, although it is no longer its home.

Now more a district than a thoroughfare, Wall Street is the place where some of the world's biggest and most powerful financial institutions are tobe found: two rival Stock Exchanges (the New York and the American), the Federal Reserve Bank, and numerous other investment banks, trustcompanies, brokerage firms and international commodity exchanges. But few have Wall Street as their postal address.

The NYSE has been in a building in Broad Street since the beginning of the century, but its origins were on Wall Street. On 17 May 1792, agroup of stockbrokers, who met under a tree outside number 68, signed an agreement to trade together. They rented a room at number 40 whichbecame the first Stock Exchange. Trading continued there until 1865, when it moved elsewhere. But the name of Wall Street has clung on as asymbol of high finance. So when, in October 1929, shares dropped sharply, marking the beginning of the Great Depression, it became known asthe Wall Street crash.

The origins of the street predate the days of financial dealing. In a city with a history of less than 500 years, Wall Street is one of the oldest parts.The tip of Manhattan was settled by the Dutch in the early 17th century. The northern boundary was a wooden wall built from the East Riveracross to the Hudson, which protected the citizens from invading Indians. Then the English took over and in 1699 they pulled down the wall andbuilt Wall Street, which quickly became an elegant residential area.

A city hall was built on the corner of Broad Street, and an administrative district grew up. In 1835, the area was devastated by fire, and everythinghad to be rebuilt. Many bankers and financiers moved into the new buildings, and the reputation of New York's financial district began to rivalthat of London.

The modern Wall Street is in the shadow, literally, of the many buildings that have made it famous. The trees under which the early stockbrokersmet have long since disappeared; now when the traders leave their offices they meet in the coffee shops, bars, and health clubs that have colonisedthe neighbourhood. Blocks of skyscrapers line the street on both sides, and the only light in this gloomy tunnel comes from the point where WallStreet meets South Street, along by the East River. Even this is shaded by the elevated section of the FDR Drive, which whisks the traffic aroundthe eastern edge of the city.

The area immediately around Wall Street contains several of the essential features of modern American life. South Street Seaport, the old harbourdistrict, was converted during the 1980s to that ultimate American experience, the shopping mall. Half a dozen blocks away on the other riverfront are the twin towers of the World Trade Centre. Between the two are the developments of Battery Park City and the World Financial Centre.

Trinity Church, at the junction where Wall Street meets Broadway, was once a focal point in the area. It is completely dwarfed now by theskyscrapers around it. Both the church, and Wall Street itself, have been overtaken by developments around them, but both are still there, as longas you know where to look.