Welcome to Boston's Old City Hall

Boston's Old City Hall served as Boston's City Hall from 1865 until 1969, when it was renovated for use as an office building. It was one of the first examples of adaptive reuse, and its successful conversion from 1969 to 1971 into a restaurant and first-class office building helped launch a new approach to recycling outdated public buildings. Publicized by the American Institute of Architects, it became a model for redeveloping underused municipal property and stimulated the reuse of landmark buildings across the United States in the 1970s and 1980s. The cornerstone was laid on December 22, 1862, and the building was designed by Gridley J. F. Bryant and Arthur Gilman. Its granite exterior reflects the French Second Empire style, with ornamented columns, a mansard roof, and a projecting center bay, and notable features include massive front doors with mixed woods and marble inlay, entrance murals, a marble plaque commemorating the cornerstone laying in 1862 and dedication in 1865, courtyard statues of Benjamin Franklin and Josiah Quincy, and a hopscotch in the School Street sidewalk marking the site of the first public school, Boston Latin School. The site has long national significance: Boston Latin School, founded here in 1635 as the nation's first public school and oldest educational institution, was attended by figures including Cotton Mather, Benjamin Franklin, John Hancock, and Samuel Adams. In 1810, the Suffolk County Courthouse designed by Charles Bulfinch was built here; remodeled by Gridley J.F. Bryant, it served as City Hall from 1841 until 1862, when it was demolished after the government outgrew it. Its basement was retained as the foundation of the present building, and granite blocks from the earlier structure were reused in the rear and east exterior walls. By 1912 an annex had been added because city administration was again short of space, but a new city hall was ultimately built in 1969. Instead of demolishing the old building, the City of Boston leased it to the Architectural Heritage Foundation for rehabilitation, and during its 104 years as the seat of city government, 27 mayoral administrations guided Boston from its chambers.

Cambridge, Massachusetts · United States