Bloemfontein City Hall, Municipal government building in Bloemfontein, South Africa.
Bloemfontein City Hall is a double-storey sandstone building on President Brand Street, next to the Supreme Court of Appeal and facing Hertzog Square. Its symmetrical entrance is flanked by two towers, with neoclassical pillars at the east entrance. Signs reading Stadhuis and City Hall hang above the entrance, below the former city coat of arms. The council meeting room lies behind the eastern entrance.
Construction began in 1934, and Prince George, Duke of Kent, laid the foundation stone on 27 February 1934. The building, designed by architect Gordon Leith, was officially opened on 4 December 1936 by George Villiers, 6th Earl of Clarendon, then Governor-General of the Union of South Africa. On 21 June 2017, during a protest by the South African Municipal Workers' Union, the building was set on fire and the municipal archives housed inside were lost. After restoration, it reopened in 2021.
The building is named in both languages on its facade: signs reading "Stadhuis" and "City Hall" hang above the symmetrical entrance, with the former city coat of arms above them. The council meeting room sits behind the eastern entrance, and the local council has kept meeting in the building through municipal reorganisations in 2000 and its 2011 reclassification.
The main entrance on President Brand Street is the symmetrical one with the two towers; the eastern entrance leads to the council meeting room behind it. The building stands next to the Supreme Court of Appeal and faces Hertzog Square, so it is easy to find on foot along President Brand Street.
The foundation stone was laid on 27 February 1934 by Prince George, Duke of Kent, and the building was inaugurated on 4 December 1936 by George Villiers, 6th Earl of Clarendon, then Governor-General of the Union of South Africa. Restoration after the 2017 fire required imported materials, including roofing from Italy.
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