Abandoned to materialism as the city is and lacking sentiment, nevertheless any proposal to take down the City Hall, or even to alter it ever so slightly, meets with vigorous protests.[5] Possibly people might object if it were proposed to destroy St. Paul’s Chapel, the oldest church edifice in the city, and so with a few other buildings; but the majority of the landmarks must go and hideous skyscrapers arise, “monuments to greed” as they have been termed, half ruining adjacent properties. It was with a view of preserving the appearance of some of these landmarks that may be torn down any day that these pictures were taken. Endeavor has been made to present those that have been in existence about fifty years. With two exceptions the buildings represented are now (1906) standing. Mistakes and errors no doubt appear in the text, and these the writer would be glad to correct. The notes in no sense profess to be thorough. They are, for the most part, mere skeletons of what may be said upon the subjects dealt with. [Illustration] Number Seven State Street This house was built by Moses Rogers, a prominent merchant of the latter part of the eighteenth and the first part of the nineteenth century. He was a native of Connecticut, his mother being a daughter of Governor Fitch of that State. He was in business as early as 1785 at 26 Queen (Pearl) Street. In 1793 the firm name was Rogers & Woolsey, his partner being William Walter Woolsey, his brother-in-law, Mr. Rogers having married Sarah Woolsey, a sister of the wife of President Dwight of Yale College. In that year he was living at 272 Pearl Street, near Beekman, “in a large house with hanging garden extending over the yard and stable.”[6] Mr. Rogers was a merchant of high character and public spirit. In 1793 he was an active member of the Society for the Manumission of Slaves. He was a governor of the New York Hospital from 1792 to 1799, and in 1797 treasurer of the City Dispensary. From 1787 until 1811 he was a vestryman of Trinity Church, and in 1793 was a member of the Society for the Relief of Distressed Prisoners.[7]