City Hall Detail
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Philadelphia’s City Hall was designed by Scottish-born architect John McArthur, Jr., in the Second Empire style, and was completed in 1901 at a cost of $24 million. It was indeed the world's tallest habitable building at the time of opening.
Second Empire is an architectural style, popular between 1865 and 1880, and so named for the architectural elements in vogue during the era of the Second French Empire. As the Second Empire style evolved, it acquired an eclectic mix of earlier European styles, most notably the Baroque often combined with mansard roofs and low, square based dome,
With almost 700 rooms, City Hall is the largest municipal building in the United States.
The building is topped by an 37-ft, 27-ton bronze statue of city founder William Penn, one of 250 sculptures created by Alexander Milne Calder that adorn the building inside and out. The statue is the tallest atop any building in the world.
Uploaded on March 02, 2014