WALKING TOUR TO THE CITY HALL IN NEW YORK

The city hall is one of the main buildings to house the municipal government. The cornerstone for City Hall was laid in 1803 but a yellow fever epidemic, labor disputes and financial difficulties delayed the official opening until July 4th 1811. The main marble employed in the building comes from Massachusetts, while the north facade was originally faced in brownstone because the city fathers wished to save money.

The City Hall is an elegant federal style building elaborated with french details; the french influene appears mainly in the long rows of windows ornamented with pilasters and swags instead of the usual more severe classical orders. The dome is crowned by a copper mass produced statue of Justice manufactured in Ohio and restored in 1998.

The lobby walls are covered with white marble from Massachusetts and to the right entrance there is a bronzed copy of a sculpture of George Washington made from a marble original carved in 1787.

The City hall is the seat of New York's Major whose office is at the end of the left corridor. And on top of the building there is the flag of the city of New York.

The flag combines orange, white and blue perpendicular bars of equal dimensions (the blue being nearest to the flagstaff) with the standard design of the seal of the city in blue upon the middle white bar, bearing the number 1625. These are the colors of the Netherlands flag, the country which provided the first European settlers to our area in the year sixteen hundred twenty-five.