Federal Hall

In the 17th century, the area north of Wall Street was occupied by the farm of a man named John Damen. Damen sold the land in 1685 to captain John Knight, an officer of Thomas Dongan's administration. Knight resold the land to Dongan, who resold it in 1689 to Abraham de Peyster and Nicholas Bayard. Both de Peyster and Bayard served as mayors of New York. City Hall The original structure on the site was built as New York's second city hall from 1699 to 1703, on Wall Street, in what is today the Financial District of Lower Manhattan. This structure had been designed by James Evetts to replace Stadt Huys, the city's first administrative center. It was two stories high, with wings extending west and east from a recessed central section. The stones from Wall Street's old fortifications were used for City Hall. The upper stories were used as a debtors' prison. City Hall was first remodeled in 1765, with the addition of a third story. The first meeting of the Confederation Congress took place at City Hall on April 13, 1784. The Patriots felt that the building should be remodeled in a distinctively American style while also preserving the pre-colonial structure. The Confederation Congress passed the Northwest Ordinance at City Hall in 1787. L'Enfant's expansion, which took place between 1788 and 1789, was characteristic of Georgian-style designs, although he used larger proportions, and added American motifs. An arched walkway was built through the street-level basement, with four heavy Tuscan columns supporting a balcony. On balcony level, four high Doric columns were installed, supporting a pediment that depicted an American eagle with thirteen arrows (one for each of the original Thirteen Colonies). L'Enfant also created a loggia with a recessed gallery behind the columns, The 1st Congress met there beginning on March 4, 1789. The first inauguration of George Washington, the first-ever inauguration of a President of the United States, occurred on the balcony of the building on April 30, 1789. Many important U.S. legislative actions occurred with the 1st Congress at Federal Hall. For example, on September 25, 1789, the United States Bill of Rights was proposed in Federal Hall, establishing the freedoms claimed by the Stamp Act Congress. The Judiciary Act of 1789 was also enacted in the building, setting up the United States federal court system. In 1790, the United States capital moved to Philadelphia. Federal Hall was turned into quarters for the state assembly and courts. The Federal Hall building was one of the few structures in the area to survive an 1804 fire that caused $2 million in damage (equivalent to $ million in ). Part of the original railing and balcony floor, where Washington had been inaugurated, is on display in the memorial and was at one point held by the New-York Historical Society. Nassau Street had originally curved around the building to the west, while Broad Street had run to the east. Nassau Street was straightened after the building was demolished, and it runs to the west of the modern Federal Hall National Memorial. ==Second structure==

The current Greek Revival structure was the first building that was specifically constructed for the U.S. Custom House for the Port of New York. The Custom House had been located in Government House, a converted residence on Bowling Green. Land for the new building was purchased incrementally in 1816, 1824, and 1832. Custom House Town and Davis—composed of Ithiel Town and Alexander Jackson Davis, then two of the city's most prolific architects—won an architectural design competition for the new Custom House building and was awarded the contract for the building's design in August 1833. The building would have also been decorated with details such as acroteria, metopes, and triangular pediments. Ultimately, the building was constructed out of marble. at a cost of $928,312 (equivalent to $ million in ). The building came to be associated with political patronage. "The Seven Stages of the Office Seeker", an 1852 print by Edward Williams Clay, satirized how Democratic Party patronage under New York governor Martin Van Buren was centered around the Custom House. By 1861, the structure was too small to accommodate all of the customs duties of the U.S. Custom House for the Port of New York. The U.S. government decided to move the customs offices one block to 55 Wall Street, then occupied by the Merchants' Exchange. The federal government of the United States signed a lease with the Merchants' Exchange in February 1862, intending to move into the building that May. The customs offices were moved to 55 Wall Street starting in August 1862. one of six that handled federal funds on a regional level as part of the Independent Treasury System) independently of private banks. The Subtreasury desks were arranged around the rotunda of the building. Gold and coin storage vaults were placed along a passage near the north side of the rotunda. Bars were stored to the west, or left, and gold certificates and coins were stored to the east, or right. A vault for small change was also provided. A coin division was on the east side of the building, on the floor of the rotunda, toward Pine Street. Silver was stored in the northwest corner of the building, in the basement. An armory was placed on the upper stories, and various fortifications were mounted at the top of the building to protect the money. Adjoining the Subtreasury to the east was the United States Assay Office, a branch of the United States Mint that performed all Mint functions except creating the coinage. When the Subtreasury moved into the building in 1862, the structure held 70% of the federal government's money. By 1903, the building held over $275 million in gold, silver, and various other types of money; this amounted to nearly one-tenth of all of the United States' money at that point. A plaque memorializing the Northwest Ordinance was dedicated at the Subtreasury in 1905. By 1917, the Subtreasury building held $519 million worth of gold and several million dollars more in coins. In the Wall Street bombing of 1920, a bomb was detonated across from the Subtreasury at 23 Wall Street, in what became known as The Corner. Thirty-eight people died in the surrounding area, though the Subtreasury was undamaged. and the Assay Office leased the Subtreasury building to the Fed, which then was constructing the Federal Reserve Bank of New York Building two blocks north. The Fed started moving its monetary holdings from the Subtreasury to the new Fed building in May 1924. This prompted concern among local financiers that the federal government was planning to sell the building to a private entity. Use by other government offices Ultimately, the government decided to retain ownership of the Subtreasury, using it as storage space for the Assay Office and as office space for other agencies. The government also considered moving the Bureau of Internal Revenue to the Subtreasury. In October 1924, federal officials announced they would move Prohibition enforcement agents' offices to the Subtreasury building, using the basement vaults to store confiscated alcoholic beverages. These plans were canceled the next month because of opposition from patriotic and historical societies. In early 1925, the City Club of New York appealed to Treasury Secretary Andrew Mellon to preserve the Subtreasury building. U.S. representative Anning Smith Prall proposed a bill that December to allocate $5 million for an expansion of the building. A passport office opened on the Pine Street side of the building in March 1925. The Subtreasury was also used for events such as a 1926 party to celebrate the dedication of the Bowling Green Community House, as well as Constitution Day celebrations. The Brooklyn–Manhattan Transit Corporation (BMT) built its Nassau Street Line under the building in the late 1920s, and the Subtreasury was underpinned during the line's construction. The original foundation was only deep, so additional supports were installed underneath, descending to the bedrock. A water main under Nassau Street ruptured in October 1931, severely damaging some of the records that were stored in the basement. A writer for The New York Times in 1930 characterized the Subtreasury as one of "the big little buildings of Wall Street", along with 23 Wall Street, the New York Stock Exchange Building, and Trinity Church. In the early 1930s, the United States Post Office Department proposed replacing the Subtreasury building with a post office, which would be a replica of Federal Hall as it appeared in 1789. At the time, the three post-office substations in Lower Manhattan could not adequately accommodate high demand from the surrounding office buildings. The department said much of the Subtreasury's space was unused because historical and patriotic societies had objected to most plans for the building. Federal Hall National Memorial 1930s to 1950s '', 1882, by John Quincy Adams Ward, in front of Federal Hall National Memorial|upright In 1939, after the government announced plans to demolish the Subtreasury building, a group called Federal Hall Memorial Associates raised money to prevent this. The building was designated as Federal Hall Memorial National Historic Site on May 26, 1939, and an information bureau opened on the rotunda floor, with exhibits related to finance and the 1939 New York World's Fair. The next month, the National Park Service (NPS) took over the Subtreasury building. The memorial commemorated the first building on the site, rather than the extant Subtreasury building. After several months of negotiations, Federal Hall Memorial Associates was allowed to operate the interior as a museum in January 1940. The memorial opened on Washington's Birthday, February 22, 1940. The New York Herald Tribune said that, within the United States, Federal Hall Memorial was only matched by Mount Vernon and Independence Hall "in historical interest". The building celebrated its 100th anniversary on Washington's Birthday, February 22, 1942. Among the other events at Federal Hall Memorial in the early 1940s were sales of World War II war bonds, Constitution Day celebrations, rallies in support of the United Service Organizations, and stamp sales. Events in the 1950s included a blood donation drive and a Salvation Army donation drive. In 1952, the United States House of Representatives' Subcommittee of the Interior voted to permit the rehabilitation of Federal Hall. The John Peter Zenger Room, a journalism exhibit, was dedicated at Federal Hall in April 1953. The next year, the U.S. government relocated the building's original wrought-iron fence into the basement because the Tennessee marble under it had started to buckle. Since the building was owned by the federal government, Congress had to approve all renovations and restoration proposals. In 1954, the New York City Council passed a resolution asking Congress to establish a committee to provide suggestions for restoring Federal Hall, the Castle Clinton National Monument, and the Statue of Liberty National Monument. Federal Hall was re-designated as a national memorial on August 11, 1955. The same year, the federal government created the New York City National Shrines Advisory Board. The board first convened in February 1956. The government tentatively allocated $1.621 million for the restoration of Federal Hall, whose interior had become dilapidated. In February 1957, the board recommended allocating $3 million for the restoration of the three sites. By 1960, Interior Secretary Fred A. Seaton announced plans to restore Federal Hall within the next two years. He proposed that local civic groups raise $2.9 million, half of the projected cost, and that the government raise matching funds. The next year, Interior Secretary Stewart Udall announced that the federal government would start redeveloping the three historic sites in advance of the 1964 New York World's Fair. Federal government officials also installed a plaque in front of the building, dedicating it as a "national shrine". 1960s to 1990s |alt=Federal Hall National Memorial as seen from the New York Stock Exchange Building The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) designated the building's exterior as a landmark on December 21, 1965. The building was also added to the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) when the National Historic Preservation Act, which created the NRHP, was signed on October 15, 1966. Among these events were an anti-narcotics rally and a protest against the Vietnam War in 1970. After the building closed for restoration in 1968, the NPS said that loitering on the front steps developed into "more of a problem". The LPC held hearings in 1975 to determine whether the interiors of Federal Hall's rotunda, the Morris–Jumel Mansion, and the Bartow–Pell Mansion should be designated as landmarks. The LPC designated all three as landmarks on May 26, 1975, and the New York City Board of Estimate ratified these designations that July. The NPS hired Phoebe Dent Weil to restore the George Washington statue on the front steps in 1978. The Whitney Museum opened a temporary branch at Federal Hall in 1982. This was the third location of the Whitney's first satellite branch, which had previously been housed at 55 Water Street and the First Police Precinct Station House. The Whitney closed the Federal Hall branch in 1984, eventually reopening at 33 Maiden Lane in 1988. During this decade, Richard Jenrette, the chairman of banking house Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette, started soliciting $500,000 in private donations to renovate Federal Hall, in conjunction with Federal Hall Memorial Associates. Although the group planned to renovate the rotunda into a reception area with contemporary furnishings, by 1985, only $73.000 had been raised and no contemporary furnishings had been acquired. Federal officials announced in 1986 that Federal Hall would be renovated; the spaces would be cleaned and painted, and mechanical systems would be replaced. The memorial's second floor would contain two galleries about the Constitution of the United States, and an exhibit about the original building would be installed. Federal Hall hosted a reenactment of Washington's inauguration on April 30, 1989, the event's 200th anniversary. The reenactment, attended by president George Bush, was intended to raise $700,000 for the museum, In addition to Constitution-related exhibits, the museum hosted temporary exhibits such as a display of Hudson Valley artwork, a showcase of New York City designated landmarks, and an exhibit about the abolition of slavery in the United States. 2000s to present By the beginning of the 21st century, Federal Hall had numerous large cracks. During the September 11, 2001, attacks, which caused the nearby collapse of the World Trade Center's Twin Towers, 300 people sheltered at the memorial. Due to concerns over the building's structural integrity, Federal Hall was closed for one month following the attacks. When the building reopened, metal detectors were placed at the entrances. so the NPS received $16.5 million for repairs to the building in early 2002. Four steel pilings were installed under one of the building's corners in 2003 after investigators found a 24-inch air gap beneath that corner. and Einhorn Yaffee Prescott Architecture and Engineering was hired to repair and restore the building. The renovated memorial included a visitor center, showcasing other historical sites operated by the NPS in the New York City area. The same year, the metal detectors were removed and replaced with magnetometers because the security screening process took too long, driving away visitors. This measure increased attendance fourfold. though both candidates declined the offer. McCain did host his own town hall forum at Federal Hall in June 2008. The American Express Foundation donated $75,000 in 2012 toward the restoration of the Washington statue. By 2018, local newspaper AM New York Metro wrote that "cracked walls, peeling paint and a rust-water-stained rotunda are among the deteriorating conditions that greet nearly 300,000 visitors who come there to learn about American history". The cooling system was replaced in 2020. The NPS temporarily closed the memorial in July 2021 after finding cracked stone. The memorial also continued to host events such as a pro-free speech rally in 2025. == Architecture ==

Federal Hall National Memorial was designed by architects Ithiel Town and Alexander Jackson Davis of Town and Davis, with a domed rotunda designed by the sculptor John Frazee. The building is constructed of Tuckahoe marble, which was sourced from Westchester County, New York. The site slopes up from Wall to Pine Street. The Subtreasury had been constructed with 22 At the top of the stairs, a colonnade supports a plain triangular pediment. The lack of sculpture on the pediment may have been influenced by aesthetic considerations, as there were few "qualified sculptors" at the time of the building's construction, according to Elizabeth Macaulay-Lewis. The wall of the rotunda contains four sections of colonnade, each containing four columns. The decorations were originally in a gold, blue, and white color scheme. The floor of the rotunda contains gray and cream marble blocks in concentric circles, surrounding a central stone slab where George Washington once stood. == Activities and visitation ==

The National Park Service operates Federal Hall as a national memorial, which is open only on weekdays. The memorial is wheelchair-accessible via a ramp on Pine Street. The memorial has several permanent exhibits. Among the items displayed are a piece of the balcony upon which Washington stood in his first inauguration. Various temporary exhibitions have also been shown at Federal Hall, such as the 2023 site-specific theatre performance The Democracy Project. The memorial had an estimated 200,000 annual visitors by 2015, representing about one percent of the 15 million people who visited the intersection of Wall, Nassau, and Broad Streets every year. , the memorial had 63,314 visitors. == Impact ==

The design of the first Federal Hall influenced the development of what became the Federal style. More directly, the building's architecture had helped inspire the design of the first Connecticut State Capitol. Of the second building, Gerard Wolfe wrote in his 1994 book New York, a Guide to the Metropolis, that the structure was "considered the Parthenon of public buildings in the city and possibly its finest Greek Revival-style building". Meanwhile, the AIA Guide to New York City called it one of the "institutional stars of New York's Greek Revival", along with Sailors' Snug Harbor in Staten Island. The second issue was released in 1957, the 200th anniversary of Alexander Hamilton's birth. This issue depicts Hamilton and a full view of Federal Hall. The United States Postal Service issued a commemorative 25-cent stamp in 1988, the 200th anniversary of when New York ratified the United States Constitution. The stamp depicted the original Federal Hall, Wall Street, and Trinity Church's steeple. ==See also==