New Britain City Hall and the nearby Anvil Building reflect the city's industrial identity, architectural ambition, and civic pride, while the Soldiers Monument and other war memorials in Central Park honor citizens who served in major conflicts. New Britain's first mayor, industrialist Frederick T. Stanley of The Stanley Works, embodied the city's manufacturing character, and downtown architecture followed prominent industrial-city styles such as Beaux Arts, Neo-classical, Gothic Revival, and Art Deco. City Hall began as the Hotel Russwin, built in 1886 with financing from the owners of the Russell and Erwin Manufacturing Company and designed by McKim, Mead, and White in the Venetian Palazzo style with red brick, brownstone, an intricately carved iron balcony, detailed roof eaves, and iron filigree at the main entrance. Serving the company's sales representatives and clients, it included 40 bedrooms, a barbershop, laundry facilities, and New Britain's first passenger elevator before the municipal government purchased it in 1907 and converted it into City Hall. Next door, the Anvil Building at 55 West Main Street was built in 1927 for the Commercial Trust Company in a Romanesque-Revival style with Gothic flourishes, limestone and red brick, and lavish materials that expressed New Britain's prosperity in the 1920s; after depositors withdrew too much cash following the 1929 stock market crash, the bank closed on December 13, 1930, and the New Britain National Bank later occupied the site. Both buildings honor Elihu Burritt, the blacksmith, scholar, and peace advocate known as the Learned Blacksmith, through anvil imagery in the Anvil Building and the city motto he coined, “Industry fills the hive and enjoy the honey,” in the ornate city seal above City Hall's entryway. New Britain residents served and sacrificed in every major conflict, and among the city's memorials the Soldiers Monument in Central Park is especially prominent. Built to honor the 483 New Britain residents who fought for the Union in the Civil War, the monument was debated for nearly 30 years after 1868 before construction began in 1897 after the city approved a tax to fund the approximately $28,000 project. Designed by Ernest Flagg in the Beaux-Arts style, it was dedicated on September 19, 1900 with a grand parade, remarks by Governor George E. Lounsbury, and an oration by General Joseph Hawley, a U.S. senator and former governor of Connecticut. The 44-foot limestone monument consists of a base, tomb, and attic, topped by a dome and a 7-foot Winged Victory holding an olive branch for those who survived the war; quotes from Webster, Lincoln, Grant, and Lowell honor the Civil War, pillars around the base name battle locations, and cast-iron doors once opened to plaques listing New Britain citizens who served. Because of deterioration, the original copper Winged Victory was replaced in 1950 before the monument's 100th commemoration celebration on September 18, 2000, and the original sculpture is displayed in City Hall. Central Park also contains memorials to the Korean War, Vietnam War, and World War II, dedicated on November 11, 1972 to replace a temporary World War II veterans memorial from 1945. The Soldiers Monument, City Hall, and Walnut Hill Park are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.