CITY HALL & MUNICIPAL BUILDING 

New York City's City Hall is one of the city's most beautiful 19th Century buildings in Manhattan.  It was designed by Joseph-Francois Mangin and John McComb, Jr. in a Federal-style architecture with French Renaissance influences.  

The Governor's Room at City Hall is used for official events and receptions.   It has a historic collection of portraits, paintings, and furnishings (i.e., a desk used by George Washington) that honors those who have made an important contribution to New York City and American history.  The collection includes John Trumbell's well known portrait of George Washington, a portrait of the Marquis de Lafayette, those of U.S. presidents, New York State governors, military leaders, and foreign dignitaries.   Both President Lincoln and President Grant were laid in state at City Hall.  

The original City Hall stood at 71-73 Pearl Street in 1653.  A second one was  built in 1700 at the Northeast corner of Wall and Nassau Streets.  Construction of the current City Hall, considered a masterpiece, was completed in 1811.  It was built in part to improve New York City's image and made the city more competitive with Philadelphia.  Massachusetts marble was used to built the building.  It has a domed rotunda with a cooper ceiling, a coffered dome with a skylight, a cupola supporting the figure of Justice holding the scale of justice and a sword, twin spiral marble staircases leading to a circular gallery on the second floor, and American motifs of stars and torches of liberty in the moulding of the ceiling.  

The Municipal Building (the tall building in the photo's background), serves as offices to many NYC agencies including the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission and the Office of the Manhattan Borough President.  It was modeled after the Italian sculpture and architect Giovanni Lorenzo Bernini’s colonnade at Rome’s St. Peter’s Church.  It is another classic building designed by architects McKim Mead and White.  Built in 1914, the building was the first in Manhattan to incorporate a subway station as an integral part of its design.   The Brooklyn Bridge/City Hall subway station is partially below the Municipal Building and the Brooklyn Bridge itself nearby.

The City Hall neighborhood was once the location of the Astor House, a large hotel, Barnum's American Museum, and newspaper row, where several city newspaper, such as the Tribune Building and the World Building (Joseph Pulitzer's New York World newspaper), had offices.

City Hall faces City Hall Park, which is directly across the street from the Woolworth Building on Broadway.