City Hall (Haarlem)

Haarlem City Hall
City Hall of Haarlem
Alternative names	Stadhuis Haarlem
General information
Type	Seat of local government
Location	Haarlem, Netherlands
Address	Grote Markt
Coordinates	Coordinates: 52°22′53″N 4°38′05″E / 52.38139°N 4.63472°E / 52.38139; 4.63472
Completed	14th century (main hall), 17th century (north wing)
Owner	City of Haarlem
Design and construction
Architect	Lieven de Key and others

The City Hall in Haarlem is the seat of the city's government. It was built in the 14th century replacing the Count's castle.

Around 1100 a wooden building was constructed on the location of the current Gravenzaal of the City Hall. Traces of this building were found in 1955.

After large fires in 1347 and 1351, William II, Count of Holland donated the remains of the Gravenzaal to the city's municipality. A new building was built there. The central square building dates from the Middle Ages, but the distinctive façade of the building was designed by architect Lieven de Key and built from 1602-1604. The way it originally looked can be seen in a painting from 1460 by the Master of Bellaert. Originally the city hall was just the front of the building, and the rear cloister belonged to the Dominican brotherhood. After the Protestant Reformation this came into the possession of the city council and it is now a large complex with offices and meeting rooms. Both the Frans Hals Museum and the Haarlem Public Library originally were located in the city hall.

This 1750 "historic" engraving of an uprising in 1492 shows the tower which was torn down in 1672, the old stairs that were redesigned in 1730, and the balcony in front of the "Vierschaar" which was torn down in 1855.

This painting by Gerrit Adriaensz Berckheyde in 1671 shows the 17th-century situation that the 18th century engraving was based on.

This lion used to be on the staircase and is visible in Gerrit Adriaensz Berckheyde painting of 1671

In this photograph from c.1900 the tower is gone, the stairs have their railing, the balcony is gone, and on the right a large clock can be seen that served until after WWII.

The town hall is still used for civic weddings and nearly every Friday in Spring, brides can be seen entering and leaving by the main stairway. All year on Saturdays and Mondays there is a big market in front of the City Hall, where on Saturdays mainly flowers, household goods, and food is sold, though on Mondays the products are mainly cloth, sewing accessories and clothing. Although the market is frequented by the local population, it is also a tourist attraction and worth a visit, if only to try the raw herring from the fish stand, or stroop wafels from the stroop wafel stand. The town hall is also still used for state visits, most recently when the King and Queen paid a visit to Haarlem on 14 June 2013. They heard the local choir Zang en Vriendschap sing and received a book about all the previous royal state visits to Haarlem.