At which building did George Washington take the presidential oath in 1789?

George Washington took the presidential oath at Federal Hall on April 30, 1789.

Federal Hall stood on Wall Street in New York City and served as the meeting place of the first United States Congress. Chancellor of New York Robert Livingston administered the oath on the building’s second-floor balcony as crowds watched below.

Washington’s inauguration marked the beginning of the executive branch under the Constitution. John Adams had already assumed his duties as vice president on April 21, 1789, before Washington’s ceremony.

The original Federal Hall was later demolished, and the current Federal Hall National Memorial occupies the site. Washington’s first inauguration is sometimes confused with later ceremonies held in Philadelphia and Washington, D.C., after the national capital moved.