Federal Hall
New York
Federal Hall is the building with columns at 26 Wall Street. Here, in 1789, Washington became the first president of the United States.
The colony's town hall
In the year 1700 the town hall was built on this spot, when New York was an English colony. After independence, representatives of the new states met here. In 1788 the architect Pierre L'Enfant made it the seat of the new government, named Federal Hall.
A president on the balcony
On April 30, 1789, Washington stepped out onto the second-floor balcony. A great crowd watched from the street as he became the first president of the United States. The same building housed representatives and senators, the Supreme Court and the president's offices.
What to see from outside
The old building was torn down in 1812. The one you see opened in 1842 as the first customs house of the United States. The facade has huge smooth columns and a triangular pediment, like a Greek temple.
On the steps stands the bronze statue of Washington, by the sculptor John Quincy Adams Ward. It was placed in the late 1800s, roughly where the ceremony took place. Today the building is a National Park Service museum.
