Image via Complex Original
In 1898, New York was quickly becoming the largest city in the country, and the need for larger facilities for municipal functions was greater than ever. The city hosted numerous design competitions to resolve this need, and in 1908, finally secured the land for the site to incorporate a trolley hub at the Manhattan-side base of the Brooklyn Bridge.
The winning entry of the competition, beating eleven other designs, was submitted by William Mitchell Kendall, a junior partner at the prestigious firm of McKim, Mead & White. Despite being the largest US architectural firm, and the most prolific and respected, until then, MMW had never completed a skyscraper. The Manhattan Municipal building was to be their first. In fact, the project was considered at the time to be the largest governmental office building in the world.
Written by Babak Bryan (@BabakBRYAN)
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40 Stories of Beaux-Arts Style
The building is typical Beaux-Arts style construction and its construction in 1907 coincidentally coincided with the end of the City Beautiful movement. It is a 40-storey massive building rising almost uniformly up from its base with only a short 10-storey tower capping the central span, centered on Chambers street. At the base is a large arch, inspired by the Arch of Constantine in Rome that originally allowed traffic to pass through, before Chambers Street was shortened. A colonnade of Corinthian columns flanks the sides of the arch.
The third largest statue in the city
At the top is a gilded statue entitled “Civic Fame” designed by Adolph A Weinman. It stands 25 feet tall and is actually the third largest statue in the city after Liberty in the harbor and another up at Columbia University. The figure stands barefoot on a sphere holding a five sectioned crown that is to represent the united boroughs of New York. Weinman is also responsible for the numerous relief sculptures that adorn the rest of the building.
Heavy Is the Head That Wears the Crown
The figure stands barefoot on a sphere holding a five sectioned crown that is to represent the united boroughs of New York. Weinman is also responsible for the numerous relief sculptures that adorn the rest of the building.
The Inspiration Behind Stalin’s Soviet Architecture
The building was completed in 1915, but the first offices began moving in several years before. Today it houses 13 different municipal agencies and until 2009 when the Marriage Bureau moved out, was where 80 people were married per day. The building was designated a New York City Landmark in 1966 by the Landmarks Preservation Commission, one of the agencies that calls the building home. It was also the first New York building to incorporate subway entrances into its design. And it is said that it was the source inspiration for the Seven Sisters building of Stalin’s Soviet architecture.