"The Rue Chartres perishes in the old Place d'Armes. The ancient Cabildo, where Spanish justice fell like hail, faces it, and the Cathedral, another provincial ghost, overlooks it. "

None of the definitions I could find seemed to fit the quotation, which seems to designate a building.
cabildo sustantivo masculino1 (religión) (= personas) chapter
(= junta) chapter meeting
2 (política) (= ayuntamiento) town council
(parlamento) lobby
cabildo insular (en Canarias) inter-island council