In Pinkey’s buildings, Wayne saw his fortress. He sold most of businesses, borrowed as much money as he could, persuaded anyone who would give him a hearing to do likewise and commissioned the first of the so-called “Gotham Style” structures to be built in what is now the center of the City’s financial district. Although vehemently criticzed by Wayne’s fellow Gothamites, the edifice pleased the judge and, in fact, was highly successful in that it attracted others to locate their ventures nearby – became, in fact, the focal point for a thriving commercial center. Together, Wayne and Pinkney raised no fewer than a dozen other, similar buildings. Pinkney’s style was, for a time, widely imitated, both in Gotham and elsewhere – this despite vilification from virtually every architectural journal in the world.
Pinkney died while still a young man, on the eve of his fortieth birthday. Solomon Wayne lived to be 104, long enough to see all his dreams realized; Gotham City became the busting hub of industry he had imagined. But it also became a haven for crime, known more for its poverty, the squalidness of its slums and the utter corruption of its government than for commercial and cultural achievements. On his deathbed, Solomon Wayne said, “I wished to lock evil out of men’s neighborhoods and hearts. I fear instead I have give it the means to be locked in.”
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