Federal Hall, National Memorial in Wall Street, Manhattan, United States.
Federal Hall is a national memorial at 26 Wall Street in Manhattan, marked by its facade of Tuckahoe marble and a row of Doric columns. Inside, a round hall with a tall dome forms the center of the building, surrounded by rooms that now hold exhibition items.
The first structure on this site was completed in 1703 as a city hall and later became the stage for the first presidential inauguration in 1789. The current building replaced the old one in 1842 and served first as a customs house, then as a subtreasury until 1920.
The building's name comes from the original Federal Hall, where the 1st Congress met and George Washington took his oath in 1789. Since 1939 the National Park Service has run it as a memorial, and its museum shows Washington's inaugural Bible and an exhibit on the Zenger press-freedom trial. On 6 September 2002, 300 members of Congress met here, the first congressional session in New York since 1790.
The National Park Service runs the memorial as a free museum, closed only on holidays; in 2004 it drew over 150,000 visitors. Enter from Wall Street, where the Washington statue faces the New York Stock Exchange diagonally across the street. Inside, the rotunda and three exhibition galleries occupy the former custom house.
A bronze statue of George Washington stands in front of the building at the spot where he took his oath in 1789. The statue was unveiled in 1883 and shows him with outstretched hand as if still speaking the oath today.
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