A short distance east of Independence Square, in a narrow court off Chestnut Street, between South Third and South Fourth streets, hedged about by high modern office buildings that dwarf its size, is Carpenters' Hall, in which the first Continental Congress assembled, September 5, 1774, and in which the National Convention, in 1787, framed the present Constitution of the United States. The building was also the headquarters of the Pennsylvania Committee of Correspondence; the basement was used as a magazine for ammunition during the Revolution, and from 1791 to 1797 the whole of it was occupied by the first United States Bank. [Illustration: PLATE XC.--Old Stock Exchange, Walnut and Dock Streets; Girard National Bank, 116 South Third Street.] [Illustration: PLATE XCI.--Christ Church, North Second Street near Market Street. Erected in 1727-44; Old Swedes' Church, Swanson and Christian Streets. Erected in 1698-1700.] The Carpenters' Company, established in 1724, was patterned after the Worshipful Company of Carpenters of London, which dates back to 1477, and the early organization of such a guild in America indicates the large number and high character of the Colonial builders of Philadelphia and explains the excellence of the architecture in this neighborhood. The present building was begun in 1770, but was not completed until 1792, so that throughout the Revolutionary period it was used in a partly finished condition. Since 1857 it has been preserved wholly for its historic associations. Here was conceived that liberty which had its birth in Independence Hall, so that its claim to fame is second only to the latter. Like it, too, there are many interesting relics of those glorious days to be seen within. An inscription on a tablet outside very properly reads, "Within these walls, Henry, Hancock, and Adams inspired the delegates of the Colonies with nerve and sinew for the toils of war." The building is in the form of a Greek cross with four projecting gable ends and an octagonal cupola of graceful design and proportions at the center of the roof. It is of characteristic Philadelphia brickwork, with handsomely cased twenty-four-paned windows shuttered on the lower floor. The entrance facade, with its broad, high stoop and pedimental doorway, double doors and fanlight above; its pleasing fenestration, especially the round-headed, Palladian windows of the second floor, above balustrade sections resting on a horizontal belt of white at the second-floor level, and its pediment with a handsome hand-tooled cornice in which an always pleasing Grecian band is prominent, does credit to its design, and altogether the structure was worthy of its purpose. Within, the meeting room is of surprisingly generous size, considering the small impression given by the exterior aspect of the building. The restored woodwork is unfortunate, yet the general effect of bygone years remains.