Federal Hall National Memorial

This building at the juncture of Wall, Broad, and Nassau Streets in the heart of New York's financial district occupies one of the most historic locations in New York—the site of the original Federal Hall, where George Washington took the oath of office as the nation's first president (commemorated by John Quincy Adams Ward's 1883 sculpture of Washington on the building's steps). Town & Davis designed the imposing marble Custom House, adapting the form of the Parthenon to the needs of a great 19th-century civic monument. The job of supervising construction went to the builder Samuel Thompson. Thompson and his successors, Ross and Frazee, were responsible for design changes that distressed A. J. Davis. From the "Guide to New York City Landmarks", courtesy of the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission.