City Hall (Philadelphia)
| Philadelphia City Hall | |
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Philadelphia City Hall
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 Philadelphia City Hall
Philadelphia City Hall
Philadelphia City Hall
Location within Philadelphia
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| Record height | |
| Tallest in the world from 1901 to 1908 | |
| Preceded by | Ulm Minster |
| Surpassed by | Singer Building |
| General information | |
| Status | Complete |
| Location | 1 Penn Square Philadelphia, PA 19107, USA |
| Completed | 1901 |
| Height | |
| Antenna spire | 548 ft (167 m) |
| Technical details | |
| Floor count | 9 |
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Philadelphia City Hall
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Philadelphia City Hall c1899
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| Location | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania |
| Coordinates | 39°57′8.09″N 75°9′50.02″W / 39.9522472°N 75.1638944°WCoordinates: 39°57′8.09″N 75°9′50.02″W / 39.9522472°N 75.1638944°W |
| Area | 630,000 ft² (58,222 m²) |
| Built | 1871–1901 |
| Architect |
John McArthur, Jr. Thomas U. Walter |
| Architectural style | Second Empire, other |
| NRHP reference # | 76001666 |
| Added to NRHP | December 8, 1976 |
Philadelphia City Hall, built in 1901 and located at 1 Penn Square, is the seat of government for the city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
The building was designed by Scottish-born architect John McArthur, Jr., in the Second Empire style, and was constructed from 1871 until 1901 at a cost of $24 million. City Hall was topped off in 1894, although the interior wasn't finished until 1901. Designed to be the world's tallest building, it was surpassed during construction by the Washington Monument and the Eiffel Tower, though it was at completion the world's tallest habitable building. It was the first modern building (excluding the Eiffel Tower) to be the world's tallest and also was the first secular habitable building to have this record: all previous world's tallest buildings were religious structures, including European cathedrals and, for the previous 3,800 years, the Great Pyramid of Giza.
With almost 700 rooms, City Hall is the largest municipal building in the World. The building houses three branches of government, playing host to the city's executive branch (the Mayor's Office), its legislature (the Philadelphia City Council), and a substantial portion of the judicial activity in the city (with the Civil Division and Orphan's Court of the Pennsylvania Court of Common Pleas for the First Judicial District being housed there, as well as chambers for some criminal judges and some judges of the Philadelphia Municipal Court).
William Penn Statue
The building is topped by an 11.3 m (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.
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