City Hall

Location & Contact:

260 Broadway
New York, NY 10007
212-639-9675
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Description:

One of the oldest continuously used City Halls in the nation that still houses its original governmental functions, New York's City Hall is considered one of the finest architectural achievements of its period. Constructed from 1803 to 1812, the building was an early expression of the City's cosmopolitanism. City Hall is a designated New York City landmark, and its rotunda is a designated interior landmark as well.

Built to accommodate a growing municipal government, the three-story building was the result of a hotly contested competition held in 1802. The winning team of Joseph Franois Mangin (fl. 1794-1818), a French migr, and John McComb, Jr. (1763-1853), a native New Yorker, designed the building in the Federal style, with clear French influences that can be seen in the large arched windows, delicate ornamental swags, and more decorative Corinthian- and Ionic-style columns and pilasters.

City Hall is entered by a formal staircase that sweeps up to the one-story portico fronting the building. The roof of the portico, surrounded by a balustrade, forms a balcony outside the Governor's Room's five large arched windows. A cupola, topped by a copper statue of Justice, rises above the attic. The soaring rotunda dominates the interior, and is dramatically encircled by a keystone-cantilevered staircase. Ten Corinthian columns on the second floor support the coffered dome, which recalls the Pantheon in Rome.

Note: Tours are available on weekdays and are offered free of charge.

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