The present City Hall was finished in 1812. About that time The Commons were fenced in and became a park, taking in besides the present space, that now occupied by the post-office building. The constructors of the City Hall deemed it unnecessary to use marble for the rear wall as they had for the sides and front, and built this wall of freestone, it being then almost inconceivable that traffic could ever extend so far up-town as to permit a view of the rear of the building. The most noted spot in the City Hall is the Governor's Room, an apartment originally intended for the use of the Governor when in the city. In time it became the municipal portrait gallery, and a reception room for the distinguished guests of the city. The bodies of Abraham Lincoln and of John Howard Payne lay in state in this room. With it is also associated the visit of Lafayette when he returned to this country in 1824 and made the room his reception headquarters. The room was also the scene of the celebration after the capture of the "Guerrière" by the "Constitution"; the reception to Commodore Perry after his Lake Erie victory; the celebration in connection with the laying of the Atlantic cable; and at the completion of the Erie Canal. It contains a large gilt punch-bowl, showing scenes in New York a hundred years ago. This was presented to the city by General Jacob Morton, Secretary of the Committee of Defense, at the opening of the City Hall.
At the western end of the front wall of City Hall is a tablet reading: