Cobblestone architecture may have been used on a monumental scale to erect public administrative centers or palaces.
The stones used in the construction were typically of a rounded shape; they had been deposited in the area by glaciers, and cleared from the fields by early farmers, or brought from the shores of Lake Ontario.
[4][6] The style was prominent between 1835 and about 1860; around 900 cobblestone buildings were constructed in New York state before the American Civil War.
[6] The Town Hall in Westport, Connecticut, built in 1908, is unusual for including a cobblestone exterior surface within a Classical Revival style design.
The exterior surface may be carefully constructed for decorative effect, with cobbles matched in size and color.