With the establishment of the United States federal government in 1789, it hosted the 1st Congress and was where George Washington was sworn in as the nation's first president.

Its architectural features include a colonnade of Doric columns, as well as a domed rotunda designed by the sculptor John Frazee.

[7] The original structure on the site was built as New York's second City Hall from 1699 to 1703, on Wall Street, in what is today the Financial District of Lower Manhattan.

[9] Also housed at City Hall was a public library (which had 1,642 volumes by the year 1730), as well as a firehouse with two fire engines imported from London.

[11] In 1735, John Peter Zenger, an American newspaper publisher, was arrested for committing libel against the British royal governor and was imprisoned and tried there.

For example, on September 25, 1789, the United States Bill of Rights was proposed in Federal Hall, establishing the freedoms claimed by the 1765 Stamp Act Congress.

[25][27][28] Part of the original railing and balcony floor, where Washington had been inaugurated, is on display in the memorial[29] and was at one point held by the New-York Historical Society.

[12][31] Nassau Street was straightened after the building was demolished, and it runs to the west of the modern Federal Hall National Memorial.

[37] Town suggested that Samuel Thomson, architect of the Administration Building at Sailors' Snug Harbor, be named the construction superintendent.

Sculptor John Frazee was named the superintendent in Thomson's stead; he worked to piece together Town and Davis's original plans.

"The Seven Stages of the Office Seeker", an 1852 print by Edward Williams Clay, satirized how Democratic Party patronage under New York governor Martin Van Buren was centered around the Custom House.

[45] The federal government of the United States signed a lease with the Merchants' Exchange in February 1862, intending to move into the building that May.

[28] In 1883, John Quincy Adams Ward's bronze statue of George Washington was put up on the Subtreasury's ceremonial front steps.

[67] In October 1924, federal officials announced they would move Prohibition enforcement agents' offices to the Subtreasury building, using the basement vaults to store confiscated alcoholic beverages.

[70][71] In early 1925, the City Club of New York appealed to Treasury Secretary Andrew Mellon to preserve the Subtreasury building.

At the time, the three post-office substations in Lower Manhattan could not adequately accommodate high demand from the surrounding office buildings.

[87] The building was designated as Federal Hall Memorial National Historic Site on May 26, 1939,[88] and an information bureau opened on the rotunda floor, with exhibits related to finance and the 1939 New York World's Fair.

[92] After several months of negotiations, Federal Hall Memorial Associates was allowed to operate the interior as a museum in January 1940.

[116] The next year, Interior Secretary Stewart Udall announced that the federal government would start redeveloping the three historic sites in advance of the 1964 New York World's Fair.

[130] The satellite branch occupied four galleries on the mezzanine of Federal Hall (around the central rotunda), while the NPS hosted history exhibits in other parts of the building.

[137] The memorial's second floor would contain two galleries about the Constitution of the United States, and an exhibit about the original building would be installed as well.

[146] During the September 11, 2001, attacks, which caused the nearby collapse of the World Trade Center's Twin Towers, 300 people sheltered at the memorial.

[153][154] The renovated memorial included a visitor center, showcasing other historical sites operated by the NPS in the New York City area.

[147] In 2015, the National Trust for Historic Preservation said Federal Hall's grand staircase would be renovated after the American Express Foundation had given a $300,000 grant.

[160] By 2018, local newspaper AM New York Metro wrote that "cracked walls, peeling paint and a rust-water-stained rotunda are among the deteriorating conditions that greet nearly 300,000 visitors who come there to learn about American history.

"[161] Federal Hall National Memorial also had damaged floors and arches; the facade had begun to chip; and the columns had cracked and were showing signs of mold and discoloration.

[49] John Quincy Adams Ward's bronze statue of George Washington is placed on the building's ceremonial front steps.

The lack of sculpture on the pediment may have been influenced by aesthetic considerations, as there were few "qualified sculptors" at the time of the building's construction, according to Elizabeth Macaulay-Lewis.

Normally its exhibit galleries are open free to the public daily, except national holidays, and guided tours of the site are offered throughout the day.

In addition, the Broad Street station of the New York City Subway, serving the J and ​Z trains, is directly under Federal Hall.