Located in the heart of Center City, Philadelphia, City Hall is an iconic building that demands attention. It is located at the crossroads between two key axes in Philadelphia: Broad Street and Market Street. Designed by John McArthur, Jr., in 1871, the City Hall building took thirty years and $24 million to build. When it was completed in 1901, it was the tallest occupied building in the world. It is designed in the ornate French Second Empire style, with elongated windows and tiered dormers. The building’s exterior is comprised of over 88 million bricks and is animated with intricate sculptures of nature created by Alexander Milne Calder.
City Hall has a granite and white marble clock tower that rises over 500 feet above the ground, with a clock face on each side. Every night, three minutes before 9 PM EST, the clock tower lights go black and then turn on promptly at 9 PM to signal the time for people too far away to see the clock dial. The Clock Tower also has an observation deck that offers panoramic views of the city. It is accessible by a small elevator, which is not original to the building.
The signature sculpture atop the tower is a thirty-seven-foot-tall bronze statue of William Penn, the city’s founder. The statue reaches 548 feet into the air and depicts Penn holding the charter of Pennsylvania and wearing traditional, colonial period clothing. According to a “gentleman’s agreement,” no building in Philadelphia was permitted to be taller than William Penn’s hat. Thus, the statue was a dominant feature in the city landscape and also a determining force in how the skyline evolved. However, by 1986, skyscrapers like Liberty Place surpassed it. Superstitious locals believe that this decision cursed Philadelphia sports teams from winning national championships. In 2007, when the giant Comcast building was constructed, workers put a small William Penn figure in one of the girders, and the Philadelphia Phillies baseball team won the World Series the next year!
City Hall is still in use as a municipal building. With 700 rooms to accommodate all three branches of the government within its walls—the Mayor’s Office, the City Council, and court rooms for the Judicial System—it is the largest municipal building in the United States. The park surrounding the building serves as a lively area for gatherings and recreation. Underground, an extensive transit station serves as a commuter hub. In all, City Hall is a monument to the grandeur of Philadelphia; it continues to serve as a living building for citizens and visitors alike.
