WHEREAS, Philadelphia's City Hall, one of the City's greatest architectural treasures, is literally in the heart of Philadelphia, in Center Square - William Penn's exact geographical center of his plan for Philadelphia; and
WHEREAS, The building, designed by John McArthur, Jr., was constructed over a thirty-year period starting in 1871; and
WHEREAS, Being almost square in plan with a center exterior courtyard and two lightwells, the building contains over one million square feet of interior space, and about 700 rooms making it the largest city hall in the country; and
WHEREAS, Its richly ornamented perimeter facades extend nearly 500 feet along each side and the masonry on the tower rises to three hundred thirty-seven feet with the top of William Penn's hat topping the tower at 548 feet and weighing almost 27 tons; and
WHEREAS, The facades, the fifty-story clock tower, and the four portal entries are adorned throughout with a fantastic array of monumental marble and bronze sculptures as well as ornamental motifs designed and executed under the direction of the renowned sculptor, Alexander Milne Calder; and
WHEREAS, It is now a National Historic Landmark, arguably one of the finest examples of
French Second Empire
architecture in the United States, and the tallest masonry bearing wall building in the world; now therefore
RESOLVED, THAT THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA, Hereby commemorate Philadelphia's City Hall for being awarded the honorable distinction as a National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark by the American Society of Civil Engineers; and
FURTHER RESOLVED, That an Engrossed copy of this resolution be presented to the American Society of Civil Engineers.
End