Philadelphia City Hall, City hall in Philadelphia, United States
Philadelphia City Hall is a municipal building in Center City that rises 167 meters and features walls made of marble and brick. Its facade and interior display more than 250 sculptures and decorative elements in Second Empire style.
Construction began in 1871 and continued for three decades until completion in 1901. After opening, the structure held the title of tallest occupied building in the world until 1908.
The 37-foot bronze William Penn atop the tower, cast by Alexander Milne Calder, faces northeast toward Penn Treaty Park in Fishtown rather than south as the sculptor wished. In the 1990s the statue was dressed in the jersey of a Philadelphia sports team nearing a championship. Calder, grandfather of artist Alexander Calder, made over 250 sculptures for the building.
The observation deck sits just below the base of the Penn statue, about 500 ft (150 m) above street level, and is reached by a six-person elevator whose glass panels show the wooden framework supporting the tower. The stairs inside the tower serve only as an emergency exit. The deck, once fenced with chain-link, is now enclosed in glass.
The clock was designed by Warren Johnson and built in 1898. Each face is 26 ft (7.9 m) across, wider than the 23 ft faces of Big Ben. Above the four clocks perch bronze eagles weighing three tons each, with 12 ft wingspans.
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