Kitchener City Hall, Municipal government building in Kitchener, Canada
Kitchener City Hall opened in 1993 on a block bounded by King, College, Duke and Young streets, designed by Toronto firm Kuwabara Payne McKenna Blumberg. Three-storey wings named Sandhills and Ebytown enclose an open square facing King Street with a fountain that doubles as a skating rink. A central open rotunda forms an indoor public space, the west side holds the council chamber, and the east elevation is the twelve-storey Berlin Tower. Red sandstone from India clads much of the interior and exterior, domestic granite paves floors, and a band of green stone known as the green wall runs through the square and building.
The current building opened in 1993 after the original 1924 city hall was demolished. The city operated from the Oxlea Tower between the demolition and the completion of this newer administrative center.
The building's parts carry Kitchener's former names: the wings around the square are Sandhills and Ebytown, and the twelve-storey tower is Berlin Tower. The square in front, called Civic Square for its first 21 years, was renamed Carl Zehr Square in late 2014 after the mayor who retired that year. The rotunda hosts art exhibits and public gatherings.
The building occupies the block bounded by King, College, Duke and Young streets, with the open square and its fountain/skating rink facing King Street. The council chamber sits on the west side, the rotunda in the centre and the twelve-storey Berlin Tower to the east. Gardens and open space face Duke Street at the rear.
The 1924 city hall's clock tower was dismantled in 1973, its stones and workings labelled and stored, then reassembled on a new base in Victoria Park in 1995, in view of the current city hall. The building also appears as Wessex City Hall in the sitcom Dan for Mayor.
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