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Faneuil Hall

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Faneuil Hall

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Faneuil Hall (previously ), located near the waterfront and today's Government Center
Government Center, Boston, Massachusetts

Government Center is a city square and plaza in Boston, Massachusetts, bounded by Cambridge, Court, Congress, and Sudbury Streets. The anchoring square, Scollay Square, is at the triple intersection of Court, Cambridge, and Tremont Streets....
, in Boston
Boston, Massachusetts

Boston is the State capital and largest city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is considered the economic and cultural center of the region, and is sometimes regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England." Boston city proper had a 2007 est...
, Massachusetts
Massachusetts

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a U.S. state located in the New England region of the Northeastern United States United States. It borders Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north....
, has been a marketplace and a meeting hall since 1742. It was the site of several speeches by Samuel Adams
Samuel Adams

Samuel Adams was a statesman, Political philosophy, and one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. As a politician in Province of Massachusetts Bay, Adams was a leader of the movement that became the American Revolution, and was one of the architects of the principles of Republicanism in the United States that shaped the political cul...
, James Otis, and others encouraging independence from Great Britain
Kingdom of Great Britain

The Kingdom of Great Britain, also known as the United Kingdom of Great Britain, was a country in North-West Europe, in existence from 1707 to 1801....
, and is now part of Boston National Historical Park
Boston National Historical Park

The Boston National Historical Park is an association of sites that showcase Boston's role in the American Revolution. It was designated a national park on October 1, 1974....
and a well known stop on the Freedom Trail
Freedom Trail

The Freedom Trail is a red path through downtown Boston, Massachusetts which leads to sixteen significant historic sites. It is a 2.5 mile walk from the Boston Common to the Bunker Hill Monument in Charlestown, Massachusetts and is popular with tourists....
. It is sometimes referred to as "the Cradle of Liberty".

History
The original Faneuil Hall was built by artist John Smibert in 1740–1742 in the style of an English country market, with an open ground floor and an assembly room above, and funded by a wealthy Boston merchant, Peter Faneuil
Peter Faneuil

Peter Faneuil was a wealthy American colonial merchant, slave trader, and philanthropist who donated Faneuil Hall to Boston, Massachusetts....
. The ground floor was originally used to house African sheep brought over from the northwestern region of New Hampshire. The program was short lived however, due to a shortage of sheep and reasoning behind the program in the first place.

The grasshopper weather vane
Weather vane

A weather vane, also known as a wind vane or weathercock, is an instrument for showing the direction of the wind. Although partly functional, weather vanes are generally decorative, often featuring the traditional chicken design with letters indicating the points of the compass....
is a well known symbol of Boston; see the section "Grasshopper weather vane
Faneuil Hall

Faneuil Hall , located near the waterfront and today's Government Center, Boston, Massachusetts, in Boston, Massachusetts, Massachusetts, has been a marketplace and a meeting hall since 1742....
," below. Knowledge of the grasshopper was used as a test to determine if people were spies during the Revolution period. The people would ask suspected spies the identity of the object on the top of Faneuil Hall; if they answered correctly, then they were free; if not, they were convicted as British spies.

The hall burned down in 1761 but was rebuilt in 1762. In 1806, the hall was greatly expanded by Charles Bulfinch
Charles Bulfinch

Charles Bulfinch was an early United States architect, and has been regarded by many as the first native-born American to practice architecture as a architect....
, doubling its height and width and adding a third floor. Four new bays were added, to make seven in all; the open arcade
Arcade (architecture)

An arcade is a passage or walkway covered over by a succession of arches or Vault supported by columns. In a Gothic architecture cathedral the arcade is the lowest part of the wall of the nave, supporting the triforium and the clerestory....
s were enclosed, and the cupola
Cupola

File:Faneuil Hall Boston Massachusetts.JPGIn architecture, a cupola is a small, most-often dome-like structure, on top of a building. Often used to provide a lookout or to admit light and air, it usually crowns a larger roof or dome....
was moved to the opposite end of the building. Bulfinch applied Doric
Doric order

The Doric order was one of the Classical order of Architecture of Ancient Greece or classical architecture; the other two canonical orders were the Ionic order and the Corinthian order....
brick pilaster
Pilaster

A pilaster is a slightly-projecting column built into or applied to the face of a wall. Most commonly flattened or rectangular in form, pilasters can also take a half-round form or the shape of any type of column, including tortile....
s to the lower two floors, with Ionic
Ionic order

The Ionic order column forms one of the Classical order of classical architecture, the other two canonic orders being the Doric order and the Corinthian order....
pilasters on the third floor. This renovation added galleries around the assembly hall and increased its height. The building was entirely rebuilt of noncombustible materials in 1898–1899. The ground floor and basement were altered in 1979. The Hall was restored again in 1992. The building is a National Historic Landmark
National Historic Landmark

A National Historic Landmark is a building, :wiktionary:site, structure, object, or district, that is officially recognized by the Federal government of the United States for its historical significance....
and is on the National Register of Historic Places
National Register of Historic Places

The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation....
.

Faneuil Hall is now part of a larger festival marketplace
Festival marketplace

A festival marketplace is a concept of James W. Rouse and the Rouse Company in the United States to revitalize downtown areas in major cities in the late 20th century....
, Faneuil Hall Marketplace, which includes three long granite buildings called North Market, Quincy Market
Quincy Market

Quincy Market is a historic building in a shopping center called Faneuil Hall Marketplace in downtown Boston, Massachusetts. It was constructed 1824–1826 and named in honor of Mayor Josiah Quincy III, who organized its construction without any tax or debt....
, and South Market, and which now operates as an outdoor–indoor mall and food eatery. It was managed by The Rouse Company
The Rouse Company

The Rouse Company, founded by James W. Rouse in 1939, was a publicly held shopping mall and community developer from 1956 until 2004, when General Growth Properties Inc....
; its success in the late 1970s led to the emergence of similar marketplaces in other U.S. cities.

On November 3, 2004, Faneuil Hall was the site of Senator
United States Senate

The United States Senate is the upper house of the Bicameralism United States Congress, the lower house being the United States House of Representatives....
John Kerry
John Kerry

John Forbes Kerry is the Junior Senator United States Senate from Massachusetts and chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.As the Presidential nominee of the Democratic Party , he was defeated by 34 electoral votes in the United States presidential election, 2004 by the Republican Party incumbent President of the United States...
's concession speech in the 2004 presidential election
United States presidential election, 2004

The United States presidential election of 2004 was held on Tuesday, November 2, 2004, to elect the President of the United States. It was the 55th consecutive quadrennial election for President and Vice President of the United States....
.

Faneuil Hall is also the headquarters of the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company of Massachusetts
Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company of Massachusetts

The Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company of Massachusetts is a parade and ceremony group in Massachusetts. It is the third oldest chartered military organization in the world ....
founded 1638.

Though Faneuil is a French name, it is pronounced ['fæn.?l] or ['fæn?.j?l] rather than [fa.nøj]. Native Bostonians generally pronounce it to rhyme with manual, panel, or Daniel. There is some evidence that it was pronounced quite differently in Colonial times, as in funnel. Peter Faneuil's gravestone is marked "P. Funel," although the inscription was added long after his burial. The stone originally displayed only the Faneuil family crest, not his surname.

The bell was repaired in 2007 by spraying the frozen clapper with WD-40
WD-40

| genre = lubrication| foundation = 1953| location = San Diego, California| industry = lubrication| products = lubrication|...
over the course of a week and attaching a rope. The last known ringing of the bell with its clapper was at the end of World War II
World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a Participants in World War II, including all of the great powers, organised into two opposing military alliances: the Allies of World War II and the Axis powers....
, in 1945; it has since been rung several times by striking with a mallet.

In 2008, Faneuil Hall was rated number 4 in America's 25 Most Visited Tourist Sites by Forbes Traveler.

Grasshopper weather vane
The gilded grasshopper weather vane
Weather vane

A weather vane, also known as a wind vane or weathercock, is an instrument for showing the direction of the wind. Although partly functional, weather vanes are generally decorative, often featuring the traditional chicken design with letters indicating the points of the compass....
on top of the building was created by silversmith
Silversmith

A silversmith is a person who works primarily making objects in solid silver; historically the training and guild organization of goldsmiths included silversmiths as well, and the two crafts remain largely overlapping....
Shem Drowne
Shem Drowne

Deacon Shem Drowne was a colonial coppersmith and tinplate worker in Boston, Massachusetts and was America's first documented weathervane maker....
in 1742. Gilded with gold leaf the copper weather vane weighs eighty pounds and is four feet long. The weather vane is believed to be modeled after the grasshopper weather vane on the London Royal Exchange
Royal Exchange (London)

The Royal Exchange in the City of London was founded in 1565 by Thomas Gresham to act as a centre of commerce for the city. The site was provided by the City of London Corporation and the Worshipful Company of Mercers, and is roughly triangular, formed by the converging streets of Cornhill, London and Threadneedle Street....
, based upon the family crest of Thomas Gresham
Thomas Gresham

File:Thomas Gresham, 1544.jpgSir Thomas Gresham was an English merchant and financier who worked for King Edward VI of England and for Edward's half-sister Queen Elizabeth I of England....
. As strange as it seems, the weather vane was first, accidentally, brought and placed atop the Wren Building
Wren Building

The Wren Building is the signature building of the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia, Virginia. Along with the Brafferton and President's House, these buildings form the College's Historic Campus....
at the College of William and Mary
College of William and Mary

The College of William & Mary in Virginia is a public university research university located in Williamsburg, Virginia, Virginia, United States....
in Williamsburg, Virginia. After 3 months, designers realized that they had actually ordered a butterfly weather vane which was mistakenly shipped to Charlestown, SC. Six weeks later, order was restored as Faneuil Hall received its grasshopper, William and Mary got its butterfly, and Charlestown Town Hall was left with no weather vane at all.

Gallery

See also

Harborplace
Harborplace

Harborplace is a festival marketplace in Baltimore, Maryland, that opened in 1980 as a centerpiece of the revival of downtown Baltimore. As its name suggests, it is located on the Inner Harbor....

South Street Seaport
South Street Seaport

The South Street Seaport is a historic area in the New York City borough of Manhattan, located where Fulton Street meets the East River, and adjacent to the Financial District, Manhattan....

Further reading

Burgon, John William, (1839). - Life and Times of Sir Thomas Gresham. - London: Robert Jennings

External links

(City of Boston)
(National Park Service
National Park Service

The National Park Service is the List of United States federal agencies that manages all List of areas in the United States National Park System, many U.S....
)
(National Park Service
National Park Service

The National Park Service is the List of United States federal agencies that manages all List of areas in the United States National Park System, many U.S....
)
(National Register of Historic Places
National Register of Historic Places

The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation....
)

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