3. The Current Federal Hall’s Dome Was an Improvised Addition

The architects Ithiel Town and Alexander Davis designed the new building to resemble the classical columns of Athens’ Parthenon.

The interior, designed by John Frazee, was modeled after the Pantheon in Rome. The building’s original plans did not include the dome that crowns the building. It was added at the end, in order to let more light in.

The building was made like a fortress; its recessed windows have fittings for protective structures on both the insides and the outsides. The complex network of vaults in the basement have locks made by one of Alexander Hamilton’s companies, designed for maximum security that would protect the reserves of gold and silver that the Treasury kept there when it was based there.