New York’s old city hall, pictured above, was remodeled at the time of the Founding and renamed Federal Hall. By then, the building was 90 years old, having been built in 1699. It was the administrative center of old New York, housing not only the mayor’s office but the city firehouse and a debtor’s prison, as well as the municipal court.

After the Revolution, this building became the seat of the Confederation Congress of the United States. The Congress, then the nation’s sole governing body, met here from 1785 until the Constitution was ratified and put into operation (04 Mar 1789), two days after the Confederation was formally dissolved. The First Congress convened here. New York remained the temporary capital of the US for one year.

As the new government formed, leading New Yorkers began maneuvering to have their city chosen as the permanent capital that the Constitution required. They raised funds to transform the Old City Hall into a more imposing structure imbued with Federal style. They employed a French-born artist, Pierre (“Peter”) L’Enfant, an officer of the Army Corps of Engineers and veteran of the Revolution, to furnish the plans. Occasionally during 1788, the Confederation Congress met at Fraunces Tavern, as workmen renovated the old city hall.

RELATED:
Fortenbaugh, Robert, The Nine Capitals of the United States (Internet Archive)
Historic Battlefield Trust, Early Capitals of the United States
US House of Representatives, Meeting Places for the Continental Congresses and the Confederation Congress, 1774–1789

Image: from this source.