Faneuil Hall

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 850 feet (260 m) with the approximate location of the early colonial shoreline c. 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

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 100-by-40-foot (30 by 12 m) 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.

19th century

The roof was leaking by 1802, and the marketplace stalls were extended the next year. Bulfinch was selected as the chairman of the board of selectmen in March 1805, and the selectmen formed a committee to evaluate alternatives for the building. That May, he presented plans for an expansion of Faneuil Hall. Bulfinch, who had experience designing other buildings such as the new State House, was selected to design the expansion, with Jonathan Hunnewell as the master mason. Bulfinch added a third floor and attic, and he doubled the north–south width, extending Smibert's existing design northward. The third-story facade was decorated with pilasters and entablatures, complementing similar decorations in the stories below, and a new gable roof was built. The open arcades on the ground story were enclosed, and the cupola was moved to the east end of the new roof. Inside, a gallery was built above the assembly hall, providing seating for women, who could not vote on town matters. A new headquarters for the Ancients was built on the fourth floor. The final design contains several deviations from Bulfinch's plans, including the placement of entrances and interior spaces. The work was completed in March 1806. The project had cost $56,692, and the debt was not repaid for several years. Faneuil Hall largely retained its original design for most of the century.

The expanded building had cellars available for rent; a market; and offices for the selectmen, assessors, the Boston Board of Health, and the treasurer. The selectmen met on the second floor, and meetings were hosted in the expanded assembly room, the Great Hall. Faneuil Hall shortly began accommodating a variety of events, including anti-British protests before and during the War of 1812, along with parties and Independence Day celebrations. The clerk of Faneuil Hall's market was given his own office in 1813, and a residents' patrol group was allowed to convene there starting in 1816. During the late 1810s and early 1820s, the selectmen authorized several renovations to the interior and exterior. A bust of President John Adams was installed in the Great Hall in 1818, and a stone eagle was installed there in 1824. Meanwhile, the marketplace had again become overcrowded, and conditions in the marketplace had become unsanitary. An early-1820s proposal to extend the building eastward was never carried out, and plans for further refurbishments in 1821 were delayed.

Faneuil Hall was used for town meetings until 1822, when Boston became a city and the board of selectmen was replaced by the Boston City Council. The newly established city charter prevented Faneuil Hall from being sold or leased, instead preserving it for "the free use of the people". Mayor Josiah Quincy III advocated the construction of an entirely new marketplace to the east, Quincy Market, which was constructed between 1824 and 1826. All of Faneuil Hall's merchants were relocated to the new marketplace in 1827. The same year, Alexander Parris, who had built the Quincy Market buildings, was hired to renovate Faneuil Hall. Parris's plans included renovating the first floor and basement; he also planned a westward extension of the building, which was never built. The first floor was subdivided into eight storefronts, and the exterior was repainted.

20th century

Despite its reconstruction, the building required additional upgrades in the early 20th century. The Sons of the Revolution's Massachusetts chapter dedicated a tablet at Faneuil Hall in 1908, commemorating the structure's history. Boston's building department mandated the installation of exterior fire escapes in 1911. Some portraits in the Great Hall were temporarily removed; there were plans to downsize Healy's Webster–Hayne painting, but it was ultimately retained with a smaller frame. Following opposition to the original fire-escape proposal, Mayor James M. Curley directed the Boston Society of Architects to devise an alternate plan costing $50,000. The plans, drawn up by the society's president Ralph A. Cram, were approved in 1916 and entailed constructing two stairways, installing fireproof partitions inside, and cleaning the exterior. The City Council authorized the city to raise $68,000 in 1917. Due to a shortage of coal, the building was not heated for several years during the late 1910s, prompting city officials to study adding an oil boiler. A tablet commemorating the Boston city government's centennial was installed at Faneuil Hall in 1922.

The renovation began in January 1923, when Cram's firm Cram & Ferguson was hired to conduct the repairs. Merchants within Faneuil Hall were temporarily relocated, and the interior was renovated. The project included new partitions, stairways, sprinklers, a concrete floor under the market level, and an exterior repainting. Existing exterior paint was removed from the brick facade, and the stonework decorations were removed and replicated. A spiral stair was removed as well. The Ancients proposed installing an elevator, but the public opposed the idea as ahistorical. Cram wanted to remove Healy's painting, which he felt was out of scale, but the Boston Art Commission refused the request following protests. Ultimately, only one stair was installed, and a proposed entrance to the basement was not built. U.S. Army general John J. Pershing rededicated the building on April 19, 1925. As part of another project to beautify the approach to Faneuil Hall, adjacent buildings in Dock Square were demolished in the late 1920s.

The building attracted many tourists by the 1930s, and the surrounding area was seeing increased congestion. Some merchants actually did relocate. The heating system was upgraded and an elevator added between 1935 and 1936, after which the building remained structurally unchanged for three decades. At Faneuil Hall's 200th anniversary, it remained in use as a meeting hall and marketplace, though the Quincy Market footbridge had long since been removed. The building was still open daily in the mid-20th century. The marketplace continued to sell produce and meat, and the Great Hall upstairs hosted events—although some events were banned. The Great Hall's gallery level had been closed, and progressively fewer people were giving speeches or hosting meetings there.

21st century

By the early 2000s, the marketplace as a whole attracted 15 million visitors, of which 45,000 visited the Ancients' headquarters on Faneuil Hall's fourth floor. To attract more visitors, Mayor Thomas Menino announced in 2003 that some of the ground-floor retail space would be replaced with a visitor center. The city government also proposed increasing the Great Hall's rental fees in the late 2000s. Plans for the visitor center were delayed until 2010, when the NPS announced that the ground floor would be renovated; work began that November, funded with $6 million from the city and federal governments. The project included exhibit areas, a bookstore, and a film screening area, and the site underwent archeological excavations during the renovation. The visitor center was completed in May 2012, while the Grand Hall remained unchanged.

At the end of 2017, the city government announced that Faneuil Hall would temporarily close for $4 million worth of renovation. The modifications included repairing water damage, upgrading mechanical systems, and restoring woodwork, as well as upgrading the elevator and wheelchair lift. The building reopened in May 2018. Following calls to rename the building because of Peter Faneuil's ties to slavery (see Faneuil Hall § Name), Mayor Marty Walsh endorsed a proposal by Steve Locke to design a memorial to slaves outside the building, but Locke withdrew the plan. Business at the Faneuil Hall Marketplace suffered during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, and visitation took years to recover. A permanent exhibit on slavery opened within Faneuil Hall in 2023, and the BosTix discount-ticket booth reopened in 2024.

Architecture

The original building was designed by artist John Smibert and was the only building he ever designed, as Smibert was generally a painter. The current configuration dates to an 1806 renovation designed by architect Charles Bulfinch, who expanded the footprint to 80 by 102 feet (24 by 31 m). The exterior form remains largely unchanged from Bulfinch's expansion. The only remaining portions of Smibert's original design are parts of the eastern and southern walls and a safe that survived the 1761 fire. As expanded by Bulfinch in 1806, Faneuil Hall measures four stories high, including the attic.

Exterior

The northern and southern elevations of the brick facade are divided vertically into nine bays, while the western and eastern elevations are divided into seven bays. The window and door openings on each elevation are symmetrical. The brickwork is red and is laid in Flemish bond. The original 1742 walls, which are partially extant on the southern side of the present building, are slightly darker and rougher than the later brickwork. Other decorations are painted a cream color. There is a commemorative plaque, dated 1930, on the eastern elevation near the southwestern corner.

The first-story openings are arched and contain sash windows from Bulfinch's expansion, when the formerly-outdoor marketplace was placed indoors. The springers of the arches originally had impost blocks, but the imposts were removed from alternating windows in the 1827 renovation. On the primary or eastern elevation, all except the outermost bays have paneled doors; the second-outermost bays have doors leading to the first floor, while the three center bays lead to the grand staircase. On the western elevation facing Congress Street, the entrances are in the second-outermost bays and the middle bay. As built, the entrances were flanked by lanterns on wrought iron brackets. Another entrance, on the southern elevation, provides disability access. There are some windows and doorways under the first floor, which overlook the basement. The upper stories contain sash windows. On the second story, and the western and eastern elevations of the third story, the tops of the windows bear round arches with limestone keystones. The keystones have been described as carved busts of English variety star Dolly Bidwell. The northern and southern elevations have rectangular sash windows, topped by detached semicircular lunettes.

Each bay is separated by a single pilaster, while the extreme ends of each elevation have two pilasters each. The Tuscan-style pilasters on the first story and the Doric pilasters on the second story are part of Smibert's original design and were emulated in Bulfinch's annex. The third story has Ionic pilasters, which are entirely of Bulfinch's design. The entablatures above each story are designed in the same style as the pilasters below them; the entablatures above the first-floor windows are made of brownstone, while the second- and third-story entablatures are made of wood. The second-story Doric entablature has triglyphs, and the Ionic entablature has modillions. The entablatures are topped by protruding limestone cornices. Atop the western and eastern elevations are tympana with an architrave containing a lunette, along with a cornice decorated with modillions. These lunettes are flanked by porthole-like bullseye windows (sometimes described as ox-eye windows).

Interior

Inside Faneuil Hall are many paintings and sculpture busts of Revolutionary War activists, pre–Civil War abolitionists, and political leaders. The building's Great Hall contains a series of portraits and a George Healy painting from 1850; the portraits are generally replicas of works held by the Museum of Fine Arts, while Healy's original painting remains in situ. Throughout the building, floors are generally made of marble and cement, and stair columns are made of steel and cement. The interior spaces are connected by an elevator, making the public spaces disability-accessible. During the 1890s, a heating coil and a fan were installed, supplying air throughout the building.

The basement level is surrounded by a stone foundation wall, which has been covered with plaster in many places. Cold storage rooms are situated outside the wall at each corner. The rest of the basement is used for offices and education.

The first (ground) floor contains the market area, a space measuring 76 by 100 feet (23 by 30 m) across. This space has a concrete floor covered with terrazzo tiles, brick walls, cast-iron and concrete supports, and a ceiling of brick vaults. The north and south walls each have a west–east array of concrete piers, flanking three west–east arrays of cast iron columns, which divide the space into bays. There are stalls at the center and the north and south walls, creating an H-shaped floor plan. The west and east walls have Colonial Revival-style entrances. The southeast corner has a glass-and-wood booth or stall decorated in the Colonial Revival style. In the late 20th century, the market area retained some vestiges of its original use, including meat hooks and signage.

From the eastern entrance, a wide granite staircase rises to the Great Hall's second-story entrance, with two intermediate landings. Above that, the staircase continues to the fourth story, with landings stacked atop each other. The staircase is illuminated by lamps attached to cast-iron support columns. The staircase's current cast-iron construction dates to the 1898–1899 renovation. Most of the doorways leading off the staircases are designed in the Greek Revival style and date from the 1820s renovation, except the doors to the Great Hall and the Ancients' anterooms, which were added by Bulfinch. The top of the stairs has fanlights designed by Bulfinch.

The second floor is primarily occupied by the lower level of the neoclassical-style Great Hall, measuring 28 feet (8.5 m) high and 76 by 76 feet (23 by 23 m) across. This space, fitting 856 occupants, is accessed from the main stairway via a set of paneled doors designed by Bulfinch. There is a rostrum on the west wall, while the room's other three sides are surrounded by a third-floor gallery. The columns supporting the galleries are replicas of the original Doric-style columns installed by Bulfinch. Beneath the gallery, the pilasters on the second floor's outer walls are paneled and are designed in the Ionic order. Between the pilasters are the sash windows of the facade.

Name

Peter Faneuil was of French Huguenot descent, and there is disagreement over how his name was pronounced. The pronunciation is variously given as (FAN-el, rhyming with "panel"); (FUN-el, "funnel"); or (FAN-yel, rhyming with "Daniel"). Faneuil himself preferred the FAN-el pronunciation, but residents often pronounced it as three syllables ( FAN-u-el; similar to "Fan-you'll"). The New York Times wrote in 1923 that "Wendell Phillips and other Brahmins called it Funel Hall. The uninitiated favor Fannel Hall. The first would seem to be right."

Faneuil Hall is distinct from the Faneuil Hall Marketplace, which covers not only Faneuil Hall but also the three Quincy Market buildings. The term "Faneuil Hall" is sometimes used to refer to the Quincy Market buildings; the original building is not always included in this categorization. As such, some visitors have associated the name "Faneuil Hall" exclusively with the other three buildings. Over the years, both Faneuil Hall's market and Quincy Market have been referred to as "Faneuil Hall Market". To distinguish from Quincy Market, the name "New Faneuil Hall Market" was used for the original Faneuil Hall's market when it reopened in the 1850s. The original Faneuil Hall has also been called the "New Faneuil Hall" and nicknamed "the Cradle of Liberty".

Although the Faneuil family had sided with the Loyalists during the American Revolutionary War, the name was not changed at that time. In August 2017, amid heightened media coverage of the removal of Confederate monuments and memorials, the activist group New Democracy Coalition proposed that Faneuil Hall's name be changed because of Faneuil's participation in the American slave trade. The next year, activists suggested naming the building for Boston Massacre victim Crispus Attucks, but Mayor Marty Walsh opposed a renaming. Additional name change protests followed in the 2020s, which involved activists chaining themselves to the front door and a sit-in. Although the City Council voted in 2023 to endorse a potential renaming, The Economist wrote that, because Faneuil Hall was a significant site in the American independence and abolitionist movements, there was not as clear a case to rename it, compared with Confederate namesakes.

Usage and operation

Faneuil Hall is owned by the Boston government, which also owns the Quincy, North, and South Market buildings immediately to the east. All four structures are part of the Faneuil Hall Marketplace, of which only Faneuil Hall is also operated by the city. The original Faneuil Hall is part of the Boston National Historical Park, and there is a visitor center for the national park within the building. The NPS operates the visitor center, except for a gift shop, which is privately operated. The first floor is used as a market, and the second floor still hosts meetings and other events. Rooms in Faneuil Hall are rented out to local groups and nonprofit organizations. The Great Hall hosts free talks by NPS rangers every half hour during the daytime. It also regularly hosts naturalization ceremonies for new U.S. citizens, which are open to the general public. The Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company of Massachusetts' headquarters displays artifacts such as bricks, medals, and weapons. The Ancients' headquarters, which also includes a library, was described in the 1970s as the country's oldest continuously-used military armory and museum space.

Events

Over the years, Faneuil Hall has been used for a wide variety of events, such as debates, speeches, campaign events, jury trials, celebrations, commemorations, receptions, and balls. Topics such as slavery, suffrage, labor unions, and international relations have been discussed there. One newspaper wrote in 1923 that "practically every distinguished American has spoken there", while another said in 1964 that "every issue of great importance has been debated" in the building's halls. Faneuil Hall did not grant absolute free speech; for example, several speeches were forcibly ended early in the 19th century. Some events have been denied permission to use Faneuil Hall, including an 1851 speech by Daniel Webster and a 1929 meeting commemorating the execution of anarchist duo Sacco and Vanzetti.

The Great Hall has traditionally hosted speeches from orators on Independence Day, July 4. From 1783 to 1809, the Boston Massacre was also commemorated there every March 5. The Ford Hall Forum also took place at the building until the 1980s, and Faneuil Hall hosted the Gay and Lesbian Town Meeting from 1977 to c. 1996. Boston's mayor ordinarily gives their annual State of the City address at the Great Hall. Other events over the years have included:

Impact and legacy

Reception

The Great Hall has been praised over the years for its symbolism, even while the first-floor marketplace was criticized or ignored. A writer in 1826 said that "there is no place more distinguished for powerful eloquence than Faneuil Hall", while a writer in 1881 said that "nothing which has profoundly agitated Boston for more than a hundred years has found the old hall silent". The New York Times wrote in 1923 that "Faneuil Hall is dear to the Boston heart" and that the building had become synonymous with lively debate. The Springfield Union called the building's relics "of inestimable value in perpetuating the local color and traditions" of Boston, and a writer for the Christian Science Monitor said Faneuil Hall had served as "a forum for concerned Bostonians and their leaders" from the outset. During the United States Semiquincentennial, Smithsonian magazine wrote that the structure was "a symbol for the tradition of public debate itself".

The building itself was also the subject of commentary. In his 1900 history of the building, Abram English Brown wrote that the building was "conspicuous for its simplicity, and disappointing to tourists", although he felt that the enclosure of the first-floor arcade detracted from the overall design. The Boston Globe said in 1964 that Faneuil Hall and the adjoining market buildings formed "one of the finest urban spaces in America". In 1977, the Christian Science Monitor wrote that Faneuil Hall's "multi-tiered, humanly tiered character" allowed visitors to get actual food at ground level and "food for thought" on the second story. A writer for Change Over Time said in 2012 that Faneuil Hall and the other market buildings were "an important contribution to the canon of great American architecture".

A commentator for The Youth's Companion in 1910 described Faneuil Hall as one of three old buildings that Bostonians were most proud of, aside from the Old South Meeting House and Old State House. Faneuil Hall was rated number 4 in "America's 25 Most Visited Tourist Sites" by Forbes Traveler in 2008. Along with Quincy Market, Faneuil Hall was described in The Republican as a tourist trap, and online reviews often complained of overcrowding.

Landmark designations

The building was designated a National Historic Landmark on October 9, 1960; the landmark report cited Faneuil Hall's architectural, political/government, and social/humanitarian significance. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places on October 15, 1966, the day the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966 went into effect. Faneuil Hall is one of eight sites in the 43-acre (17 ha) Boston National Historical Park, which was designated in 1974. In 1994, the Boston Landmarks Commission designated the building's exterior and some interior spaces as Boston Landmarks.