Faneuil Hall (, , or ) is a historic building in Downtown Boston, Massachusetts, United States. Opened in 1742, the building was designed by artist John Smibert as a marketplace and meeting hall. Faneuil Hall is sometimes referred to as "the Cradle of Liberty", having been the site of many speeches, debates, and other events over its history. Over the years, the building, and especially its Great Hall meeting room, has received commentary for its symbolism. Faneuil Hall is part of Boston National Historical Park and is designated as a National Historic Landmark. It is owned by the Boston government and operated as part of the Faneuil Hall Marketplace.
Faneuil Hall hosted regular events and speeches before the American Revolutionary War, along with a marketplace at ground level. The original building burned down in 1761 and was rebuilt over the next decade. Faneuil Hall was remodeled and expanded by Charles Bulfinch in 1806, and it was renovated again in 1827 after the nearby Quincy Market opened. The interiors were rebuilt of noncombustible materials in 1898–1899, and Cram and Ferguson oversaw another renovation between 1923 and 1925. Further modifications took place throughout the 20th century, including several cleaning, fireproofing, restoration, and accessibility projects. The building was renovated again in the 21st century.
Faneuil Hall has four stories including the attic, and is made of red brick, divided vertically into several bays. There are entrances and arched sash windows on the first floor, and additional windows on the other stories, each separated by pilasters of varying designs. The slate gable roof has a cupola and a grasshopper-shaped weathervane. Inside, the basement is used for offices and education, while the first floor contains a market area measuring . A stair from the main eastern entrance ascends through the building. On the second and third floors is the Great Hall, measuring high and across with various pieces of artwork. There are also small offices on the second floor. The fourth-story attic houses the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company of Massachusetts, and there is a commandery room just beneath the cupola.
Site Faneuil Hall is located at Merchants Row in Downtown Boston, Massachusetts, United States, on the east side of Congress Street between North Street to the north and State Street to the south. It occupies filled land that had been underwater until 1732. The building is surrounded by plazas, including Faneuil Hall Square to the north, south, and west; the western space was historically part of Dock Square. Across Congress Street is Boston City Hall within Government Center, while to the east is the Quincy Market complex. Faneuil Hall is a stop on the Freedom Trail, a path connecting historic sites in Boston; sequentially, it is between the Old State House and Paul Revere House. Until the early 18th century, the site of Faneuil Hall adjoined Town Cove, a cove in Boston Harbor.
Exterior artwork
West of the building is an 1880 sculpture of Samuel Adams. Created by Anne Whitney, the Adams sculpture is cast in bronze and is a replica of a similar sculpture at the United States Capitol. This sculpture sits on a Quincy granite pedestal with polished and unpolished sections.
As part of Ross Miller's artwork A Once and Future Shoreline, the granite plaza surface is marked for with the approximate location of the early colonial shoreline 1630. The work comprises etched silhouettes of seaweed, sea grass, fish, shells and other materials found along a high tide line. The street layout and building plot plan designations from an 1820 map are shown by etched dashed lines and changes from pink granite to gray granite paving slabs. The rest of the western plaza has brick and granite pavement.
History A public marketplace in the town (later city) of Boston was first organized in 1658, during the American colonial period, at the Old State House's future site. The market was effectively banned in 1695, and several attempts to establish a public market over the next several decades were unsuccessful. Northern, central, and southern markets were established in 1734, but the central market was demolished by rioters three years later.
18th century First Faneuil Hall In 1740, colonial merchant and slave trader Peter Faneuil offered to donate a building "for a market for the sole use, benefit, and advantage of the town", provided the Boston Board of Selectmen voted in favor. Faneuil's offer also required that the market be regulated and continually used as such. The town voted 367–360 to accept the offer on July 14, 1740; the vote was controversial, and citizens challenged its validity. The selectmen identified a site in Merchants Row, which had been occupied by the 1734 central market, and approved its acquisition at a meeting on September 2, 1740. Funded in part by profits from slave trading, the building was designed by artist John Smibert in the style of an English country market. It was built primarily by mason Joshua Blanchard and carpenter Samuel Ruggles; a cornerstone with Blanchard's initials was placed outside the original building. Faneuil Hall was originally envisioned as a single-story market house before a second story for the town government was added to the plans.
The building was substantially completed in August 1742 and opened on September 10 of that year. After some debate, the building was named Faneuil Hall for its donor, and the selectmen began hosting meetings there on October 13. The original Faneuil Hall bore similarities to 17th-century English marketplaces. The two-story building, clad in brick, was designed in the early Georgian style. It had an arcaded market and offices at ground level; an assembly hall and selectmen's chamber on the second story; and an armory and assessor's office in the attic. The assembly hall could fit 1,000 people. In addition to the selectmen's chamber, the town government had offices in at least three additional rooms. After Faneuil's death in 1743, the town displayed his coat of arms at Faneuil Hall in his honor.
The marketplace struggled to attract customers or merchants, and the very idea of a marketplace remained controversial. The first merchant leased a stall there in December 1742, but the next merchant did not sign a lease for about a year. Most activity took place in the Great Hall, which was used for town meetings, public celebrations, and military drills. Social events also took place there, and some of Boston's early slave auctions took place near Faneuil Hall. The Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company of Massachusetts (colloquially the Ancients) moved into the building's attic in 1746, and the Massachusetts Governor's Council briefly moved to Faneuil Hall the next year after State House burned down. The Governor's Council moved out in 1748 once repairs to the State House were completed. Due to low patronage, the ground-floor market experienced several extended closures in 1747–1748, 1752–1753, and 1759. The building survived an earthquake in 1753, though the weathervane was damaged. The first floor had a notary public and a naval office by 1761.
Reconstruction and pre-Revolutionary activity On January 13, 1761, the first Faneuil Hall was destroyed by fire. With nothing but the brick walls remaining, the selectmen temporarily met in any building that could accommodate them. The selectmen voted to repair Faneuil Hall that March, and the Massachusetts General Court, the legislature of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, approved a lottery to raise funds for the building. Onesiphorus Tileston and several other contractors were hired to conduct repairs, which were underway by late 1761. The selectmen moved back in during October 1762, as repairs continued. The lawyer James Otis Jr. rededicated Faneuil Hall to the "Cause of Liberty" on March 14, 1763, though interior work continued through early 1768. The new Faneuil Hall had the same dimensions as the original structure and could fit 1,000 occupants. It had less woodwork than the original structure and had a rooftop cupola rather than a steeple. Though the original hall had contained a bell, it was not reproduced, likely due to a lack of money.
After its rededication, Faneuil Hall regularly hosted speeches from pro-independence Patriots, such as Otis and Samuel Adams, and was nicknamed the "Cradle of Liberty". The selectmen allowed both Patriots and pro-British Loyalists to host events there, even while banning members of the British military and local customs officials from using it. In the years before the American Revolutionary War, the building was a frequent location for debates and protests against Parliament of Great Britain; for instance, residents protested taxes there in the 1760s. Because of its large capacity, Faneuil Hall also began hosting sessions of the General Court of Massachusetts in 1764, and it also hosted meetings of the Massachusetts Convention. Other modifications continued throughout the decade; for example, the interior was illuminated in 1767. The original weathervane was restored and installed atop the cupola next year. The market at the ground floor gained popularity as a food market.
On October 1, 1768, two thousand British troops of the 14th Foot and 29th Foot landed in Boston to occupy the city and enforce Crown authority. After disputes between the occupational force's commanders and Boston officials over where the troops would be quartered, the 14th Foot was eventually quartered in Faneuil Hall. Faneuil Hall continued to host meetings and events in the meantime, and the troops quartered there were ultimately relocated in late 1770. Events in the 1770s included the Boston Tea Party protests of 1773, along with regular town meetings and a concert in 1774. Following the American Revolutionary War breaking out in April 1775, the Continental Army began a siege of Boston, during which British troops hosted theatrical shows and stored munitions and weapons at Faneuil Hall. The marketplace was closed during the occupation. The British garrison evacuated Boston in March 1776, taking some portraits from the building. The building was left in disrepair, much to the consternation of Boston's Puritans who disapproved of the theatrical shows.
Post-Revolutionary use
Town meetings and gatherings at Faneuil Hall did not resume until about 1777, the year after the U.S. declared independence. The building was sometimes used for celebrations honoring dignitaries and figures allied with the Continental Army, including Count Charles Henri Hector of Estaing, Marquis de Lafayette, George Washington, and French troops. The building was also used for state lotteries and banquets. The market underneath also saw increased use, being designated as the town's produce and meat market in 1783. The selectmen awarded several contracts for repairs to Faneuil Hall during the early 1780s, including new seats, upgraded windows, and repainting. Doors were removed from the first-floor marketplace, and portraits and busts were commissioned for the upper floors. Exterior repairs also took place during that decade. Further modifications were contemplated in the 1790s, including roof repairs and interior repainting, as well as the 1791 construction of the Shambles, a rudimentary marketplace annex with extra stalls.