The global capital of commerce--$44 billion changes hands here daily--is on Broad Street, not nearby Wall Street. Here, brokers trade shares of 3,000 companies, rapidly and rabidly exchanging liquid assets in one of New York City's most imposing, most enduring buildings--a formidable mass of stone secure -- and solemn -- enough to guard the remains of a saint or even savior. The setting tells the story: towering neoclassical structures crowd along these narrow, winding streets, where in the eighteenth century, merchants gathered around a nearby tree to try and sell Revolutionary War bonds at best price. As business grew, so did the buildings--and by 1903 the Exchange required a home that suggested stability and permanence to give respectability and security to the business of business. Architect George Post pulled out all the heavy-handed stops: Corinthian columns, a large portico and colonnade, embellished with fashionable Beaux-Arts fixins. Since 2001, the Exchange has been closed to the public for security, in a cause announced by the enormous American flag that now covers almost all of the Stock Exchange facade.