New York City Hall

One of the oldest city halls in the United States, home to city government since 1812

Local name: New York City Hall

Collection: New York · USA · Open in OpenStreetMap

City Hall and its domed cupola in the park · Kidfly182, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons

The story

Before you is New York City Hall. The mayor and the City Council work here. The city itself calls it one of the oldest city halls in the country still serving its original purpose. In 1802 New York held a competition for a new city hall. Two men won: the Frenchman Joseph-François Mangin and the New Yorker John McComb Jr. The cornerstone was laid on the twenty-sixth of May 1803. The City Council thought the design too extravagant. McComb made the building smaller and built the back wall of brownstone, which was cheaper than marble. City Hall opened in 1812. Over time the marble facade wore away, and between 1954 and 1956 it was replaced with Alabama limestone. Inside is a round rotunda with a marble staircase. Ten columns hold up the dome above it. In 1865 the coffin of the murdered President Abraham Lincoln stood on the rotunda staircase. Later the city said farewell to General Ulysses S. Grant here as well. The Governor’s Room has received the Marquis de Lafayette and Albert Einstein. City Hall keeps a portrait of Alexander Hamilton painted by John Trumbull in 1805. The face on the ten-dollar bill was taken from this portrait. In 1966 the city’s Landmarks Preservation Commission called this the most beautiful city hall in the United States.

Visiting

City Hall Park, Lower Manhattan. The building is fenced and guarded by the police; you can only enter on a tour or on official business. Tours run every week for groups of up to twenty people, and you must book in advance on the Public Design Commission website (nyc.gov). The facade is easy to see from the park.