Philadelphia City Hall
- Architect
- John McArthur, Jr.
- Year
- 1901
- Style
- Second Empire
- City
- Philadelphia, PA
- Collection
- victorian philadelphia
Philadelphia City Hall is the seat of Philadelphia's municipal government, an ornate Second Empire pile designed by John McArthur, Jr. and completed in 1901 after decades of construction. Built of brick, white marble, and limestone, it remains the world's largest free-standing masonry building — a title it has held since the 1953 collapse of Turin's Mole Antonelliana spire — and its tower made it the world's tallest habitable building when finished in 1894, a record it held until New York's Singer Building surpassed it in 1908.
the building
Load-bearing masonry. Unlike the steel-framed skyscrapers that would soon eclipse it, City Hall's walls of brick, marble, and limestone are fully load-bearing masonry. That construction method makes it, still today, the world's largest free-standing masonry building, a record it inherited after Turin's Mole Antonelliana lost its spire in 1953.
Courts and Council under one roof. The building houses the chambers of Philadelphia City Council and the offices of the Mayor, and also serves as the seat of the First Judicial District of Pennsylvania, holding the Civil Trial and Orphans' Court Divisions of the Court of Common Pleas as well as Philadelphia facilities for the state Supreme Court.
Tallest building, briefly. When its tower was completed in 1894, City Hall stood as the tallest habitable building in the world, a record it kept until New York's Singer Building surpassed it in 1908.
the style
City Hall is built in the ornate Second Empire style, favored for grand civic buildings in the decades after the Civil War, and it stands as one of the largest surviving examples of that style anywhere. Its massive central tower and mansard roofline give it a dominating, chateau-like presence over Center City's street grid.
More on Second Empiresignificance
Philadelphia City Hall was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1976, and in 2006 the American Society of Civil Engineers named it a National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark. It is also listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
nearby
- Ritz-Carlton Philadelphia
- One South Broad
- Wanamaker’s
- Masonic Temple
- Land Title Building
- North American Building