New York Stock Exchange Building

The New York Stock Exchange on Broad Street, looking up at its six giant columns and sculpted pediment between Lower Manhattan's towers in March 2012. The exchange traces its origins to the Buttonwood Agreement, signed by 24 stockbrokers on May 17, 1792. This building, designed by George B. Post, opened in 1903 to give the exchange a much larger trading floor behind that wall of glass. For most Americans, this front is simply what "the market" looks like.