Municipal Building
- Architect
- McKim, Mead & White
- Year
- 1914
- Style
- Beaux-Arts
- City
- Manhattan, NY
The Municipal Building at 1 Centre Street is a 40-story, 580-foot tower designed by McKim, Mead & White and built between 1909 and 1914 at a cost of $12 million, to house the extra government offices New York City needed after the 1898 consolidation of its five boroughs. Now known as the David N. Dinkins Municipal Building, it stands at the edge of the Civic Center neighborhood, east of Chambers Street.
the building
Scale and civic function. The building holds about 1 million square feet of office space, making it one of the largest governmental buildings in the world. Its base incorporates a subway station, and its top is crowned by the gilded Civic Fame statue.
A City Beautiful landmark. It was among the last buildings erected as part of the City Beautiful movement in New York, built only after three earlier competitions to design a single municipal building had failed.
the style
The building's architectural style has been variously described as Roman Imperial, Italian Renaissance, French Renaissance, or Beaux-Arts.
More on Beaux-Artsthe architect
The Municipal Building was designed by McKim, Mead & White, one of the most significant American architectural firms of its era.
significance
The building is a New York City Individual Landmark (LP-00079), designated February 1, 1966, and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and the New York State Register of Historic Places.
nearby
- Surrogate's Courthouse
- United States Courthouse
- New York World Building
- Tweed Courthouse
- Emigrant Industrial Savings Bank Building
- City Hall