The Building of City Hall

A popular referendum in 1870 approved moving City Hall to Centre Square, shifting Philadelphia's focus to its geographical center, inspiring a new commercial office district along Broad Street, and fulfilling William Penn's concept of a central square dedicated to public buildings. The first City Hall had stood at 2nd and Market Streets, where the original population was concentrated, and at the time of the American Revolution City Hall stood at 5th and Chestnut Streets within the Independence Hall complex while Centre Square remained surrounded by undeveloped countryside. As industry developed, the city expanded north, south, and west, accelerated by Philadelphia's prominent manufacturing role during the Civil War. After decades of debate, architect John McArthur, Jr. won the competition to design the new building, which is among the tallest masonry buildings in the world without a steel frame and was designed in the French Second Empire style influenced by the Palais des Tuileries and the New Louvre in Paris. Construction began in 1871 and took more than 30 years, during which new technologies such as electricity and elevators were incorporated into the design. The exterior contains more than 250 relief and free-standing sculptures representing the seasons, continents, and allegorical figures, all created by Scottish-American sculptor Alexander Milne Calder. The bronze statue of William Penn atop the tower is 37 feet tall and made of 14 pieces. The largest municipal building in America, City Hall expressed the optimism and wealth of the post-Civil War industrial era and symbolized Philadelphia as a major manufacturing center. For nearly a century after its construction, a gentlemen's agreement kept other buildings from rising higher than the statue of Billy Penn, although an observation deck in the tower continued to offer extraordinary views of the city.

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania · United States