Federal Hall, NY: 1789 Federal Hall that you see today is actually the third building on this site. Originally, the building was New York’s second City Hall. The Zenger Trial which established Freedom of the Press was held there. After the Revolutionary War, Congress met there and it became the Nation’s first Capital. George Washington gave the renovation project to Pierre L’Enfant who was then a young engineer on his staff as his first architectural commission. Washington was inaugurated on its balcony in 1789
The Commons: The Heart of New York City: The Commons has effectively been America’s town square since the Dutch landed. Virtually every major event of local, national, or global significance has played out in some way on this stage. This tour captures the multiple and overlapping stories that are woven throughout our city’s life, from politics and religion to social protest and parades, and to art and architecture.
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Consider the world outside a museum. Imagine that the world that we live in is really another kind of museum where the works of art exist in the landscape itself. What if you could have a gallery guide which would tell you about the buildings and artworks you find around you. It would show you what the place used to look like and introduce you to some of the people who shaped it.
Our growing virtual collection of photographs and drawings, maps and documents, podcasts and videos tell the stories of how some of the more iconic places in our cities got to be the way they are and what they might become.
Explore buildings of the past, present and future. Look at the vast selection of artwork that graces the public realm. And discover how places have evolved over time. Deconstruct the layers of history that form the fabric of our urban landscape. Meet people who have made their mark on our cities and country who have lived in the past or are living now. Listen to their voices. Take (or make) a tour. And join us at an event either virtual or real.
Our curators are the artists, architects, photographers and historians who created the images, podcasts and videos to share their knowledge and insights. Our collaborators are museums, universities, cities, and civic organizations who are the stewards of our shared cultural history
Use the guide online or take it with you on your phone...
Like the cities we live in, this is a work in progress.... Enjoy!
January 9, 1776 Thomas Paine's 47 page document which clearly laid out the moral argument for revolution becoming the best selling American title of all time in relation to its population.
January 11, 1755 Alexander Hamilton was born in Nevis in the British West Indies. By the time he was murdered in a duel with Aaron Burr in 1804, he had fought in the Revolution, helped draft the Constitution and established the US Banking System.
January 01, 1966 The 12 day transit strike which brought the incoming administration of Mayor Lindsay to a standstill ended with a 15% wage boost for the transit workers and a new Taylors Law prohibiting strikes by public workers. Unfortunately Michael Quill who led the union was sent to jail where he suffered a heart attack there and died a few days after the strike was settled.
January 17, 1872 Commissioned by Alfred de Groot, a retired Hudson Valley Steamboat Captain, Ernest Plassman's sculpture of Benjamin Franklin was unveiled in an elaborate ceremony with more than 20,000 people on what would have been Franklin's 166th birthday . Samuel Morse presided, contracted pneumonia, and died shortly thereafter.
January 01 1965 Architect Minoru Yamasaki presented his design for the World Trade Center
January 19, 1770 the first bloodshed on the English colonies was the Battle of Golden Hill
January 25, 1890 Joseph Pulitzer marked Nellie Bly's triumphal return from her record breaking 72 day circumnavigation of the globe to best Jules Verne's fictional hero Phileas Fogg
Cityscapes
photo © Simon Growing Research
In this photo1931 - "Fête Moderne - a Fantasie in Flame and Silver" Beaux Arts Ball Guests who paid $15 for a ticket to the 1931 Beaux Arts Ball were promised admission to something "modernistic, futuristic, cubistic, altruistic, mystic, architistic and feministic. From left to right: Stewart Walker (Fuller Building), Leonard Schultze (Waldorf-Astoria), Ely Jacques Kahn (Squibb Building), William Van Alen (Chrysler Building), Ralph Walker (1 Wall Street), D.E.Ward (Metropolitan Tower), and Joseph H. Freelander (Museum of New York)
photo © Museum of the City of New York
In this photoJan 11, 1898 The late 1880's New York was the commercial capital of the country. It feared that it would be overtaken by Chicago's rapidly increasing population. There was an issue about water supplies; wells near Brooklyn were
photo © New York Public Library
In this photo1932 - Park Avenue View down Park Avenue from 51st Street showing St. Barts and the new Art Deco skyscrapers including the General Electric Building (Cross & Cross, 570 Lexington Ave), The Waldorf Astoria (Schultze & Weaver), The Chrysler Building (William Van Alen) and the Helmsley Building (originally New York Central Building, Warren and Wetmore).
photo © John Herzon
In this photo1900's - Broad Street The Stock Exchange, On Broad Street, looking South from Wall Street
photo © John Herzon
In this photoWoolworth Building Woolworth Building, Post Office at City Hall, St. Paul's Chapel in the foreground. With the Municipal Building behind Printing House square.
Permanent Collection
photo © John Herzog
What Happened Here1835 Wall Street Fire Beginning in a 5 story warehouse on Dec 16th at 25 Merchant (Beaver) street, the fire was so bright that people 90 miles away in Philadelphia could see the flames; 700 buildings were destroyed
photo © ephemeralnewyork
What Happened Here1857 Toilet Paper Joseph C. Gayetty, sold flat sheets of commercially produced "Medicated Paper for the WC" for the fairly expensive price of 1,000 sheets for a dollar out of his shop which becomes
1865 Abraham Lincoln Lying in State in City Hall's Rotunda The funeral cortege stopped in New York for 23 hours, long enough for 500,000 people to pass at the rate of 80 people per minute to view Abraham Lincoln's corpse.
photo © Library of Congress
What Happened Here1889 Nellie Bly With 2 days notice, Nellie Bly packed an overnight bag and set off to best Phineas Fogg's 80 day trip around the world. She made it in a well publicized 72 with a final cross country sprint in a single car train chartered by Joseph Pulitzer.
photo © George Rinhart, Getty Images
What Happened Here1897 Pneumatic Tubes The Post office began using a pneumatic tube system which shot enormous canisters of mail around the city at 35 miles an hour At its peak, the system carried 95,000 letters a day -- about 30 percent of all New York's mail.
photo © Innerlock Studios
What Happened Here1897 Yes Virginia There is a Santa Claus On Sept 21, an editorial in the NY Sun assures letter writer 8-year old Virginia O'Hanlon that
photo © The Bowery Boys
What Happened Here1918 Charlie Chaplin at Federal HallDouglas Fairbanks and Chaplin hold a Liberty Bond Rally on Wall St - 20,000 people come out .
photo © NPR
What Happened Here1957 Atlas Shrugged Ayn Rand wrote the Fountainhead from a desk in Ely Jacque Kahn's (2 Park Ave / Seagram) architectural firm; in Atlas Shrugged, the Helmsley Building became Taggert Transcontinental and Grand Central was transformed into the Taggert station.
photo © SFGATE by Reuters/Seth Wenig
What Happened Here2006 350,000 stale crackers While performing routine maintenance under Brooklyn Bridge's main entrance ramp, workers found a cavernous room with a stockpile of water drums, medical supplies and 350,000 stale crackers.
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Places Over Time
Federal Hall National Memorial When the Constitution was ratified in 1788, New York was the national capital. Pierre L’Enfant was commissioned to remodel City Hall for the new federal government. The First Congress met in the new Federal Hall, and wrote the Bill of Rights there. George Washington was inaugurated here as President on April 30, 1789. When the capital moved to Philadelphia in 1790, the building again housed city government until 1812, at which time Federal Hall was demolished. The current structure on the site was built as the Customs House, opening in 1842. In 1862, Customs moved to 55 Wall Street and the building became the U.S. Sub-Treasury. Millions of dollars of gold and silver were kept in the basement vaults until the Federal Reserve Bank replaced the Sub-Treasury system in 1920. Federal Hall became a National Historic Site on May 26, 1939, and was designated a National Memorial on August 11, 1955.
1784 - Pierre Charles L’Enfant opens an engineering and architecture firm; General Washington provides public commissions including the renovation of Federal Hall and the city plan for the nation’s new capital
1789 - "Federal Hall becomes the 1st US Capitol" housing America’s First Congress. Bill of Rights was written and ratified. Pierre L’Enfant renovated the building from the former City Hall.
1789 - 1st Presidential Inauguration George Washington took his oath of office on the balcony of Federal Hall
1883 - Statue of George Washington by American sculptor, John Quincy Adams Ward on the 100th anniversary of Evacuation day.
1888 - Great Blizzard of 1888 NYSE closes for the 1st time, 200 people died and demand for a subway.
1918 - Charlie Chaplin and Douglas Fairbanks hold Liberty Bond Rally on Wall St - 20,000 people come out
1920 - Wall Street Bombing thought to be set off by anarchists has the distinction of being the deadliest terrorist attack in US history till Oklahoma City; the explosion killed 38 people and injured many others
1929 - Wall Street Crash From “Black Thursday” to the following “Black Tuesday” panic sets in as investors try to sell off their stocks
1943 - World War II 3,300,000 men shipped out of NY Harbor and 60 million tons of supplies for WWII; at its peak, a ship left every 15 minutes
2011 - Occupy Wall Street Protestors set up camp at Zucotti Park bringing economic inquality into the national spotlight, spawning a worldwide movement.
2015 - July 4th Celebration Historic re-enactors bring to life the epic American Revolution and the reading of the Declaration of Independence every year.
2017 - Flag Exchange: A living thing an art installation of 50 distressed flags collected from each of the 50 states, by artist Mel Ziegler.
