New York City Hall
By Gregor Gosciniak

17 April 2005: New York City is one of the few metropolises in the world that does not require an introduction. Its many attractions, including Brooklyn Bridge, the Statue of Liberty, Central Park, the Empire State Building and the Museum of Modern Art, are featured every day in journals across the world. However, New York’s beautiful City Hall is largely ignored by travel writers, even though is it one of the most treasured buildings the city has to offer.

Built between 1803 and 1811 by Joseph Francois Mangin and John McComb Junior, New York City Hall was officially opened in 1812. Since then it has been the official seat of the New York City government and the Mayor of the City. The building is located in the small City Hall Park overshadowed to the much better known Municipal Building.

New York’s first City Hall was build by the Dutch in the 17th century on Pearl Street. The city’s second City Hall, built in 1700, stood on Wall and Nassau Streets. After New York became the official capital of the US, the name of the City Hall was changed to Federal Hall. Plans for building a new, representative City Hall were discussed by New York City Council as early as 1776, but the financial strains of the War of Independence put a stop to it.

However, in 1802 a competition was held for a new City Hall and the first prize of $350 was awarded to John McComb Junior and Joseph Francois Mangin. John McComb Junior, who’s father had already worked on the old City Hall, was a New Yorker while Joseph Mangin studied architecture in  his native France. Joseph Mangin was City Surveyor in 1795 and published an official map of New York in 1803. He also designed the landmark Old St. Patrick's Church on Mott Street.

McComb designed the James Watson House on State Street, Hamilton Grange on Convent Avenue as well as Castle Clinton in famous Battery Park. City Hall is the only known project where the two architects worked on together. The start of construction was delayed because the City Council considered the design of the building as too extravagant. The two architects had to reduce the size of the building. They also had to do with cheaper materials to keep the costs as low as possible. Furthermore, disputes with the workers and a bad outbreak of yellow fever slowed the work down so much that the building could not be dedicated before 1811 and not be opened before 1812.

The design of New York City Hall combines two popular historical architectural elements. The exterior facade reflects the French Renaissance while the interior of the building reflects American-Georgian style. The building consists of a central pavilion with two wings. City Hall is entered via a sweeping staircase, which has figured prominently in civic events for more than a century and a half and leads up to the one-story portico, fronting the building. The portico’s roof is surrounded by a balustrade which forms a balcony outside the Governor’s Room’s five large, arched windows. The domed tower in the centre of City Hall was rebuilt in 1917 after the last of two major fires.

Inside City Hall, the rotunda is a soaring space with a grand marble stairway rising up to the second floor where ten Corinthian columns support the dome, recalling the Pantheon in Rome. The rotunda has been the site of many famous municipal and national events. Abraham Lincoln and Ulysses S. Grant were laid in state here, attracting enormous crowds from all over the country to pay their last respects.